V 


!°7.73 


807. r(  3        Burdette,    R.    J. 
889711  William  Perm 


F.  P.  PITZER 

"WILFRED'S    ROOST" 

4!  WOOD  LAWN  AVE, 
JERSEY 


Slips  for  Librarians  to  paste   on    Catalogue 
Cards. 

N.  B. — Take  out  carefully,  leaving  about  quarter  of  an  inch 
at  the  back.  To  do  otherwise  would,  in  some  cases,  release 
other  leaves. 


BURDETTE,  R.  J.  WILLIAM  PENN  (1644-1718). 
By  Robert  J.  Burdette.  New  York  :  Henry  Holt  & 
Co.,  1882.  i6mo,  pp.  366.  (Lives  of  American 
Worthies.) 


PENN,  WILLIAM,  (i644-I7i8).  By  Robert  J. 
Burdette.  New  York:  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  1882. 
i6mo,  pp.  366.  (Lives  of  American  Worthies.) 


BIOGRAPHY.  WILLIAM  PENN  (1644-1718).  By 
Robert  J.  Burdette.  New  York  :  Henry  Holt  &  Co., 
1882.  i6mo,  pp.  366.  (Lives  of  American  Worthies.) 


HISTORY.  WILLIAM  PENN  (1644-1718).  By 
Robert  J.  Burdette.  New  York  :  Henry  Holt  &  Co., 
1882.  i6mo,  pp.  366.  (Lives  of  American  Worthies.) 


'  LIVES  OF  AMERICAN  WORTHIES. 


NOW   PUBLISHED, 
CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS,  (1440-1506), 

By  W.  L.  ALDEN,  (of  the  New  York   Times) 

Author  of  "  The  Moral  Pirates,"  etc. 
CAPTAIN  JOHN    SMITH,  (1579-1631), 

By  CHARLES    DUDLEY  .WARNER,    Author   of 

"My  Summer  in  a  Garden"  etc. 
WILLIAM   PENN,  (1644-1715), 

BY  ROBERT  J.  BURDETTE,  of  the  Burlington 
Hawkeye. 

IN    RAPID    PREPARATION, 
BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN,  (1706-1790), 

By 
GEORGE  WASHINGTON.   (1732-1799), 

By   JOHN    HABBERTON,    Author  of   "Helen's 
Babies"  etc. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  (1743-1826), 

By  JOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS  ("Uncle  Remus.") 

ANDREW  JACKSON,    (1767-1845), 

By  GEORGE  T.  LANIGAN,  Author  of  "Fables 

out  of  the  World." 
New  York,  May,  1882. 


••• 


LIVES  OF  AMERICAN    WORTHIES 


WILLIAM  PENN 


BY 


ROBERT  J.  BURDETTE 


NEW   YORK 

HENY    HOLT    A NJD^CDMP ANY 
BOUD  BY  THE 

&I  HBBAST, 
NEW  YOKK. 


COPYRIGHT,  1882, 
BY 

HENRY  HOLT  &   CO. 


WILLIAM   PENN. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HE  PUTS  ON   HIS  HAT. 

TT  7ILLIAM  PENN  was  born  in  London,  on 

*  *      Monday  morning,  October  14,  1644.     He 

was  not    born   with    his   hat   on,   but    this    is 

the  only  time  he  was  ever  seen  in  his  bare  head. 

(The  fact  that  he  was  born  on  wash-day  was 

regarded  by  the  augurs  as  an  indication  that 

he  would  be  a  man  of  peace,  loving  quiet  and 

determined  to  have  it,  if  it  cost   him  a  life-time 

of  contention  and  dispute."] 

He  came  of  an  old  family.  The  Penns  dated 
their  back  numbers  away  into  the  earlier  years 
of  the  1 6th  century.  In  Penn  village,  Bucking- 
hamshire, the  first  William  Penn  on  record,  the 
great-grandfather  of  our  William,  died  in  1591, 
and  he  now  lies  before  the  altar  of  Mintye 
church,  in  Wiltshire.  (Even  in  those  old  days, 
the  Penns  were  mightier  than  the  sword.  They 


WILLIAM  PENN.  [1644. 

were  merchants,  and  brought  much  wealth 
from  the  loud-sounding  sea. 

The  father  of  the  great  Quaker,  also  William 
Penn,— £for  this  thrifty  family  was  very  econom- 
ical in  the  matter  of  names,}— was  a  sailor. 
His  father  before  him,  Giles  Penn,  was  captain 
of  a  merchantman,  and  young  William  shipped 
before  the  mast  on  his  father's  vessel.  In  those 
good  old  times  the  traffic  of  the  sea  was  about 
equally  divided  between  the  merchants  and  the 
pirates ;  (so  the  honest  merchant,  who  robbed 
nobody  save  his  customers,)carried  his  purse  in 
one  hand  and  a  pistol  in  the  other,  as  he  sailed. 
The  pirate  of  the  time  was  a  most  avaricious 
wretch.  Whatever  he  saw  he  wanted,  and 
what  he  wanted  he  got,  unless  the  owner  car- 
ried the  longest  cutlass  and  the  heaviest  guns. 
So  the  young  sailor  was  well  trained  in  all  the 
ways  of  trade.  He  bought  in  the  cheapest  and 
sold  in  the  highest  market,  and  thumped  the 
pirates,  until,  loving  fighting  better  than  trad- 
ing, he  entered  the  royal  navy. 

It  is  evident  that  this  William  Penn  did  not 
inherit  the  Quaker  principles  of  his  renowned 
son.  Before  he  was  twenty  years  old  he  was  a 
captain  in  the  royal  navy,  not  by  purchase,  but 


JEl.  i.]  A    FIGHTING  PENN.  3 

by  rapid  promotion  on  his  merits.  Having  now 
a  secured  position  which  would  keep  him  away 
from  home  the  greater  part  of  the  time, — for 
only  officers  of  the  United  States  navy  are  com- 
pelled to  live  ashore, — Captain  Penn  married  a 
Dutch  girl,  Margaret  Jasper,  daughter  of  John 
Jasper,  a  merchant  of  Rotterdam.  (  Margaret 
was  very  wealthy,  but  Captain  Penn  did  not 
consider  this  a  bar  to  their  union.)  f"  No,"  said 
the  frank,  honest-hearted  sailor,  "  I  would  marry 
you  if  you  had  ten  times  so  much  money.")  His 
father-in-law  was  deeply  affected  by  this  unself- 
ish declaration,  and  on  the  6th  of  January,  1643, 
the  young  people  were  married,  and  took  hand- 
some lodgings  in  London,  living  near  the  Tower, 
which  was  then  the  fashionable  quarter  for  naval 
men.  Captain  Penn  was  a  good  liver ;  he  wore 
good  clothes,  drank  good  claret  and  better 
sack,  was  fond  of  gay  society,  and  took  good 
care  of  William  Penn.  He  was  ambitious,  but 
his  ambition  was  tempered  with  caution,  and  (he 
was  led  more  by  interest  than  principle.  "  So 
long  as  I  get  the  interest  regularly,"  he  said,  "I 
will  not  trouble  you  for  the  principle/^/and  this 
feeble  joke  affords  a  key  to  his  motives  in  life. 
In  the  quarrel  between  the  King  and  the  Com- 


4  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1644. 

mons,  in  1643,  Captain  Penn  calmly  but  firmly 
established  himself  upon  the  fence  until  he  could 
see  in  which  cart  the  melons  were  loaded. 
Those  were  stirring  times.  Charles  was  more 
than  ever  absolute,  the  people  more  than  ever 
republican ;  the  quarrel  was  deepening  in  its 
intensity  and  bitterness.  One  of  the  first  trials 
of  strength,  the  dispute  over  the  command  of 
the  navy,  was  settled  in  favor  of  the  Commons 
by  the  appointment  of  Lord  Warwick  as  Lord 
High  Admiral;  and  when  Captain  Penn  saw 
the  melons  loaded  into  the  people's  cart,  he 
came  down  from  his  high  seat  on  the  fence  and 
said  that  he  too  was  a  reformer,  and  cast  his  lot 
with  the  strongest  side.  "  It  is  a  frosty  day,"  he 
said,  "  when  I  happen  to  be  shut  out  with  a  mi- 
nority." He  was  placed  in  command  of  a  twen- 
ty-eight-gun ship,  the  "  Fellowship;  "  slipped 
anchor  and  dropped  down  the  river  Saturday 
morning,  October  I2th,  and  the  Monday  morn- 
ing following  he  was  telephoned  from  the  city : 

"  Hello,  Fellowship !" 

"  Hello,  Central !" 

"  Boy — 'smorning — blue  eyes — eight-pounder. 
Good-bye." 

And  without  another  word  me  rushed  ashore 


jEt.  10.]  CLIMBING    UP.  5 

and  chased  the  first  street-car  all  the  way  to  his 
lodgings.y 

Stormy  times  for  the  young  Quaker,  passing 
his  childhood  in  Essex,  while  his  father  sailed 
the  seas  over,  sweeping  St.  George's  Channel 
like  a  cyclone,  threshing  the  French  wherever 
he  found  them,  winnowing  the  seafaring  royal- 
ists like  chaff,  chasing  the  dashing  Rupert  all 
along  the  coasts  of  Portugal,  and  first  carrying 
theterrorof  English  arms  into  Italian  waters  ;  a 
captain  at  nineteen  years,  rear-admiral  at  twenty- 
three,  admiral  of  the  Irish  Sea  at  twenty-five, 
and  vice-admiral  "  to  the  Streights"  at  twenty- 
nine.  \  There  was  a  model  fighting  father  for  a 
peace-loving  Quaker  son.  •  \The  arm  of  the  peo- 
ple had  torn  away  the  crown  of  Charles  Stuart, 
and  his  head  came  away  with  it  j  ,the  Protector 
succeeded  Parliament,  and  Vice-Admiral  Penn 
was  one  of  the  first  naval  officers  to  send  in  his 
adhesion  to  the  new  government..  For  Crom- 
well he  smote  the  navy  of  Holland,  and  fairly 
drove  his  wife's  relations  off  the  seas ;  he  added 
Jamaica  to  the  British  dominions,  and  suffered 
his  first  defeat  at  Hispaniola. 

Never  at  heart  devoted  to  Cromwell,  and 
always  loyally  and  devotedly  attached  to  the 


6  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1654. 

interests  of  Admiral  Penn,  Admiral  Perm  de- 
manded compensation  of  the  Protector  for  the 
losses  his  family  suffered  in  Ireland  during  the 
civil  war,  and  received  all  he  demanded, 
"  lands  of  full  value  of  300  pounds  a  year,  near 
to  a  castle  or  fortification  for  their  better  pro- 
tection, with  a  good  house  upon  them  for  his 
residence."  Furthermore,  Cromwell  made  it  a 
special  personal  request  that  "  this  order  should 
be  so  obeyed  as  to  leave  no  cause  of  trouble  to 
the  Admiral  and  his  family  in  the  matter ;  but 
so  that  they  might  enjoy  the  full  benefit  of  the 
estate  while  he  was  fighting  his  country's  bat- 
tles in  foreign  lands." 

And  having  thus  got  out  of  Cromwell  all  he 
could  reasonably  expect,  and  seeing  the  Penn 
family  well  provided  for  so  far  as  the  Protec- 
torate was  concerned,  the  thrifty  Admiral,  De- 
cember 25,  took  his  pen  in  hand  and  wrote  his 
Christmas  present  to  Charles  Stuart,  at  Cologne, 
offering  to  place  the  whole  of  the  fleet  under 
his  command  at  his  disposal,  and  run  it  into  any 
port  he  might  designate.  "  It  will  be  a  lively 
administration,"  said  Admiral  Penn,  "  that  can 
change  quicker  than  I  can,"  and  he  smiled  to 


JEt.  10.]  LAID  BY   THE  HEELS.  7 

think    how   easily  a   true   statesman    can    get 
around  civil-service  reform. 

Cromwell  knew  of  the  Admiral's  treason 
almost  as  soon  as  Charles,  but  he  said  not  a 
word,  until  the  failure  of  the  attack  on  His- 
paniola,  when  in  his  wrath  he  stripped  General 
Venables  and  Admiral  Penn  of  their  commands 
and  dignities,  and  shut  them  up  in  separate  dun- 
geons of  the  Tower,  to  think  about  it.  Here  the 
Admiral  subsisted  for  some  time  on  liberal  ra- 
tions of  humble-pie,  an  English  dish  very  similar 
to  the  American  "  crow."  He  ate  all  that  was 
sent  him,  and  passed  his  plate  for  more.  He 
addressed  a  very  humble  petition  to  Cromwell, 
confessing  his  faults,  at  least  those  of  which  he 
supposed  Cromwell  was  already  informed,  and 
threw  himself  on  the  Protector's  mercy.  Crom- 
well at  once  generously  restored  him  to  home 
and  liberty,  and  the  grateful  Admiral  imme- 
diately resumed  his  treasonable  correspondence. 
He  retired  to  his  Irish  estates,  that  with  the 
greater  security  he  might  plot  for  the  return 
of  the  exiled  princes  and  the  overthrow  of  the 
man  who  gave  him  those  estates.  He  prefaced 
this  step  in  the  usual  manner  by  announcing,  as 


8  WILLIAM  PENN,  [1659. 

all  politicians  do  when  about  to  concoct  some 
unusual  piece  of  rascality  and  dishonesty,  that 
he  had  gone  out  of  politics  forever. 

Then  came  the  night  of  September  2d ;  there 
was  awe  and  unrest  and  fear,  conflicting  hopes 
and  anxious  thoughts  in  the  hearts  of  men.  The 
day  went  drearily  out  on  London  town,  and  the 
darkness  of  a  night  settled  down  upon  it  such 
as  no  man's  remembrance  could  parallel.  The 
storm  came  with  the  darkness.  Through  the 
clouds  that  tossed,  a  sea  of  inky  fury  in  the  skies, 
came  no  gleam  of  light,  no  ray  of  any  star.  The 
wind  came  on  in  sullen,  sobbing  gusts.  Then 
in  wailing  cadences  it  swept  over  the  darkened 
town,  wilder  and  louder  as  the  night  wore  on, 
a  shrieking  gale  that  rose  at  midnight  to  the 
madness  of  a  hurricane ;  chimneys  toppled  and 
were  hurled  headlong  in  the  streets,  and  the 
roofs  were  torn  crashing  from  the  houses. 
Ships  dragged  their  anchors,  and  their  hawsers 
parted  at  the  wharves.  In  the  parks  at  the 
Protector's  palace  the  uprooted  trees  were 
hurled  to  the  ground.  In  the  horror  of  the  con- 
tending elements  in  all  that  long  night  of  dark- 
ness and  storm,  Cromwell  lay  dying,  praying  for 
his  enemies.  With  the  next  morning  dawned 


jEt.  15.]  DEATH  OF  CROMWELL.  9 

the  anniversary  of  the  battles  of  Dunbar  and 
Worcester,  and  the  hand  that  smote  the  ene- 
mies of  the  Commonwealth  on  these  fields  was 
stilled  and  nerveless  forever-more. 

At  this  time,  and  for  a  year  thereafter,  the 
Penns  remained  on  their  Irish  estates,  but  the 
Admiral  was  busy  with  his  intrigues.  But  in 
the  Protectorate,  mediocrity  succeeded  genius ; 
one  year  of  the  feeble  Richard  sufficed.  With 
his  deposition,  Admiral  Penn  promptly  de- 
scended the  fence  on  the  safe  side  ;  declared  for 
Charles  ;  brought  the  fleet  over  to  the  Restora- 
tion ;  personally,  on  board  his  own  ship,  wel- 
comed the  King  to  his  navy  ;  and  for  all  this  he 
was  promptly  knighted  by  Charles  and  Avas 
made,  at  different  times,  Commissioner  of  the 
Admiralty  and  Navy,  Governor  of  the  town 
and  fort  of  Kingsale,  Vice-Admiral  of  Munster, 
member  of  the  Provincial  Council  of  1664,  and 
Great  Captain  Commander  under  his  Royal 
Highness,  James,  Duke  of  York,  with  the  un- 
derstanding thatAie  was  to  be  made  several 
more  things  as  soon  as  the  Secretary  of  State 
could  invent  names  for  them.)  And  the  Admi- 
ral, Commissioner,  Governor,  Vice-Admiral, 
Councillor,  and  Great  Captain  Commander, 


IO  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1659 

Sir  William  Penn,  called  his  son  to  his  side 
and  said,  "  William,  my  gentle  boy,  there  is 
nothing  like  seeing  the  melons  loaded  on  the 
cart  before  you  climb  in." 

In  the  mean  time,  William  Penn,  Junior,  was 
at  home,  taking  more  interest  in  the  measles 
than  in  politics,  and  getting  his  lessons  and 
floggings  with  equal  regularity,  in  accordance 
with  the  educational  system  of  that  day.  He 
first  attended  a  free  grammar  school  at  Chig- 
well  in  Essex;  at  twelve  years  of  age  he  was 
sent  to  a  private  school  in  London,  on  Tower 
Hill,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  about  the  time  of 
the  Restoration,  he  was  sent  to  Oxford,  where 
he  matriculated  as  gentleman  commoner  at 
Christ's  Church.  He  was  a  hard  student, 
and  could  row  a  boat  in  French,  German, 
Dutch,  and  Italian,  and  in  later  life  he  learned 
to  sell  glass  beads  in  two  or  three  Indian  dia- 
lects ;(but  as  base-ball  was  not  then  invented, 
his  hands  were  not  deformed,)nor  was  his  nose 
backed  like  a  camel,  but  his  college  advantages 
were  somewhat  limited.  He  was  tall  and  slen- 
der, but  very  athletic  and  fond  of  out-door 
sports ;  a  boy  of  earnest  religious  convictions. 
(  The  only  outburst  of  natural  depravity  that  has 


JEt.  15.]  SOME  RELIGIOUS  PEOPLE.  II 

been  placed  on  record  against  his  college  life  is 
the  fact  that  he  wrote  a  Latin  poem  for  the 
Duke  of  Gloucester,  with  all  the  jokes  in  Italics.,) 
All  about  this  boy — whose  mind  had  from 
earliest  childhood  been  deeply  impressed  on  the 
subject  of  religion  ;  who,  at  the  age  of  eleven 
years,  "  while  sitting  alone  in  his  chamber,  was 
suddenly  surprised  with  an  inward  sense  of 
comfort  and  happiness,  akin  to  a  strong  religious 
emotion  ;  the  chamber  at  the  same  time  appear- 
ing as  if  filled  with  a  soft  and  holy  light;"  who, 
in  his  first  year  at  Oxford,  found  his  greatest 
delight  in  reading  the  doctrinal  discussions  de- 
veloped by  the  Puritan  idea — the  air  was  fairly 
tremulous  with  religious  excitement  and  doc- 
trinal debate.  Puritanism  and  the  profligate, 
gay,  irreligious  court  of  Charles  were  fighting 
with  other  weapons  than  Roundhead  and  Cava- 
lier had  wielded  on  Marston  Moor.  There  was 
a  madness  in  the  world  on  the  subject  of  re- 
ligion, or  rather  religions(^for  every  man  seemed 
to  have  more  religions  than  Colonel  Ingersoll 
has  none,]  and  Familists,  Anabaptists,  Libertines, 
Puritans,  Arians,  Brownists,  Antinomians,  Ran- 
ters, Antitrinitarians,  Independents,  Calvinists, 
Arminians,  Baptists,  Perfectists,  Presbyterians, 


12  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1660. 

Antiscripturists,  Enthusiasts,  Levellers,  Papists, 
Fifth-Monarchy  men,  Muggletonians,  Sceptics, 
Seekers,  and  Socinians  wrangled  and  pelted 
each  other  with  pamphlets.  Atheists  swarmed 
all  over  the  kingdom ;  one  sect  arose,  holding  as 
one  of  its  tenets  that  a  woman  has  no  soul ;  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral  was  used  as  a  stable  for  horses  ; 
hogs  were  baptized  according  to  the  established 
ritual,  by  the  soldiers,  at  the  consecrated  fonts ; 
"one  man  was  found  with  seven  wives,"  a 
species  of  religious  observance  which  was  even 
then  considered  abominably  wicked,  and  is  now 
only  followed  and  permitted  in  some  portions 
of  South  Africa  and  the  United  States ;  prophets, 
lunatics,  preachers,  martyrs,  fools,  knaves,  and 
dupes  disturbed  and  distressed  the  poor  old 
world  with  new  and  old  doctrines,  predictions, 
denunciations,  dreams,  revelations,  and  visions. 
Not  only  the  ignorant  and  vulgar,  but  the  edu- 
cated and  refined  had  visions,  and  Lady  Sprin- 
gett,  Penn's  mother-in-law,  "  twice  saw  and 
spoke  with  the  Son  of  God  in  her  ecstatic 
dreams." 

Just  at  this  time  came  George  Fox,  an  illiter- 
ate shoemaker,  plain  and  unlettered,  read  only 
in  the  pure  diction  of  the  English  Bible,  waging 


j£t.  16.]  AN   UNPOPULAR  SECT.  13 

relentless  war  against  all  existing  creeds,  teach- 
ers, and  doctrines,  asking  no  quarter  and  giving 
none,  preaching  a  divine  light  concealed  in  every 
man,  a  spark  of  the  infallible  Godhead,  which 
was  the  highest  guide  of  human  conduct;  a 
light  free  of  all  control ;  every  man  and  woman 
was  supreme  ;  even  the  Scriptures,  Fox  said,  are 
to  be  judged  by  the  Light, — without  it  they  are 
useless.  As  he  preached,  the  established  church, 
the  government,  the  rabble,  and  the  members  of 
other  denominations  sought,  by  the  usual  means 
employed  in  those  days,  to  modify  his  teaching, 
and  turn  him  from  the  error  of  his  ways.  He 
was  beaten  and  stoned,  pilloried,  imprisoned, 
set  in  the  stocks,  fined,  passed  the  greater  part 
of  his  time  in  jail,  but  the  more  he  was  perse- 
cuted the  more  boldly  he  preached ;  men  flocked 
to  his  belief,  and  the  Children  of  Light,  as  they 
called  themselves,  or  Quakers,  as  their  less  re- 
spectful neighbors  called  them/grew  in  number 
and  multiplied  and  kept  the  jails  and  stocks  so 
full  that  for  some  time  the  martyrs  of  the  other 
denominations  were  unable  to  be  accommodated 
even  with  standing-room  by  the  authorities.^ 

And  now  in  Oxford,  Thomas  Loe  was  preach- 
ing the  new  doctrines  taught  by  George  Fox, 


14  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1660. 

and  Penn  and  a  few  fellow-students  were  at- 
tracted by  the  neglect  of  forms  and  ceremonies 
in  the  services,  (and  regularly  neglected  chapel 
to  hear  Thomas  Loe.^  For  this  they  were 
promptly  brought  up  and  given  ten  days  or 
ten  dollars,  for  non-conformity,  a  crime  which 
at  that  time  was  considered  a  trifle  less  odious 
than  high  treason,  but  infinitely  more  wicked 
than  murder. 

.  The  punishment  had  the  usual  effect  upon  the 
young  men.  They  now  declared  they  would 
never  attend  chapel  again ;  they  would  not  wear 
the  gown  themselves,  and  they  would  make  it 
warm  for  any  person  who  did.  They  publicly 
declared  that  any  man  who  would  take  a  book 
to  church  to  pray  out  of,  would  use  a  pony  for 
his  Latin  translations.  Whenever  these  inde- 
pendent young  men  met  students  wearing  the 
hated  rubric,  they  pursued  after  them,  and  en- 
compassed them  roundabout,  and  smote  them 
sore,  and  tore  the  vestments  from  their  courtly 
shoulders,  and  entreated  them  roughly ;  and  in 
all  these  reformatory  movements  William  Penn 
was  the  chief  reformer.  He  was  promptly 
brought  up  for  judgment,  and  without  cere- 
mony the  faculty  suspended  him. 


jEt.  I?.]  RECEIVES    THE    G.  B.  I  5 

When  William  returned  home,  his  father  did 
not  see  him  while  he  was  yet  a  long  way  off,  and 
run  to  meet  him  and  fall  upon  his  neck.  And 
when  William  told  him  that  he  had  gone  through 
college  ahead  of  his  class  by  several  years,  the 
Admiral  did  not  appear  very  glad.  He  received 
the  information  with  a  cold  silence  that  must 
have  been  very  discouraging  to  his  son.  He 
could  have  forgiven  anything  but  this.  The 
Admiral  was  fond  of  recreation  and  fighting 
himself,  went  to  the  theatre,  "  loved  to  dine  at  a 
tavern  with  a  set  of  jovial  companions,  and  was 
addicted  to  all  the  genial  weaknesses  of  a  busy 
man,"  says  Pepys, — whatever  the  "genial  weak- 
nesses of  atmsy  man"  may  be.  But  conscience 
was  a  complaint  that  never  troubled  Sir  William 
very  much.  ^If  ever  he  was  vaccinated  for  a 
conscience,  it  didn't  take.")  He  had,  in  his  busy 
and  ambitious  life,  always  managed  to  get  down 
on  that  side  of  the  fence  where  the  greater  mul- 
titude was  assembled,  and  he  took  his  conscience, 
if  he  indulged  in  such  a  dangerous  non-con- 
formist sort  of  luxury,  with  him.  And  to  find 
his  eldest  and  favorite  son,  the  son  on  whose 
head  he  had  builded  so  many  bright  dreams 
and  plans  of  gayety  and  worldly  greatness  and 


1 6  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1664. 

splendor,  cultivating  an  independent  unbiased 
conscience,  a  non-conformist  at  seventeen,  with  a 
leaning  toward  Quakerism, — it  was  too  much. 
He  immediately  sent  the  young  man  to  Paris, 
accompanied  by  a  select  assortment  of  college 
friends. 

They  were  not  Quaker  college  friends.  Ah, 
no!  They  were  "howling  swells,"  who  wore 
purple  and  fine  linen  and  fared  sumptuously 
three  times  a  day  and  once  or  twice  at  night. 
Penn  joined  in  the  recreations  of  the  time.  He 
was  presented  to  Louis  Quatorze,  he  wore  a 
rapier,  he  fought  in  the  streets  one  night  and 
disarmed  his  man,  he  "  sassed  "  the  police,  called 
the  waiters  by  their  first  names,  worfe  his  watch- 
chain  outside  of  his  coat,  danced  the  racket,  and 
was  "  one  of  our  kind  of  boys." 

In  this  whirl  of  fashionable  life  and  the  bril- 
liant society  of  the  French  court,  he  temporanly 
went  out  of  the  Quaker  business,  put  up  the 
shutters,  discharged  the  boy,  and  rented  the 
shop  for  a  sail-loft.  But  he  was  not  altogether 
absorbed  in  Parisian  revelry  ;  he  was  not  frivo- 
lous. Even  while  he  shared  in  the  recreations 
of  the  time,  he  continued  his  studies  under  the 
learned  Moses  Amyrault,  and  with  this  eminent 


JEt.  2I.J  EVIL   COMMUNICATIONS.  \J 

scholar  he  read  theology  and  pored  over  the 
Fathers.  Leaving  Paris,  he  travelled  through 
France  and  Italy  with  Lord  Robert  Spencer, 
and  made  the  acquaintance  and  won  the  friend- 
ship of  Algernon  Sidney,  who  was  then  living 
in  exile  rather  than  compromise  his  political 
faith. 

After  an  absence  of  two  years,  Penn  was  re- 
called by  Sir  William.  His  father  was  pleased 
with  him.  The  young  man  was  tall,  graceful, 
and  handsome,  with  an  almost  womanly  beauty ; 
wore  stylish  clothes,  was  an  especial  favorite 
with  the  ladies,  parted  his  hair  in  the  middle, 
wore  it  long  and  curled  it ;  a  rapier  dangled  at 
his  side,  and  it  was  believed  by  the  cook  that  he 
carried  a  razor  in  his  boot ;  and,  to  crown  all,  he 
wrote  poetry,  French  poetry — chansons  d1  amour, 
(a  kind  of  poetry  so  unfit  to  read  that  it  is  kept 
in  duplicate  in  all  public  libraries^) 

In  order  the  more  fully  to  crush  out  his 
Quakerism,  the  Admiral  kept  his  son  employed 
on  the  King's  business,  which  brought  him  in 
continual  contact  with  the  irreligious  and  profli- 
gate court  of  Charles;  he  entered  the  young 
man  as  a  student  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  with  the  in- 
tention of  (making  him  a  lawyer,  thereby  de- 


1 8  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1665. 

stroying  the  last  vestige  of  anything  like  a  con- 
science the  young  man  might  possess  htook  him 
to  sea  on  his  own  ship,  and  let  him  see  some 
sharp  fighting  between  the  Dutch  and  the  Eng- 
lish ;  sent  him  to  the  King  with  despatches,  and 
just  when  he  thought  (he  had  knocked  his  son's 
broad-brim  into  a  cocked  hat,Vhe  plague  broke 
out  in  London  and  tumbled  the  Admiral's  airy 
castles  all  about  his  ears.  In  the  horror  of  the 
pestilence  that  walked  in  darkness  and  the  de- 
struction that  wasted  at  noon-day,*  the  mind  of 
the  young  courtier  turned  back  into  its  old  chan- 
nels of  religious  fervor.  When  people  fell  dead 
in  the  streets  and  the  death-rate  ran  up  to  10,000 
cases  in  a  single  day,  when  the  dead-cart  rum- 
bled through  the  streets,  and  the  dismal  cry 
"  Bring  out  your  dead  !"  rose  like  a  wail  on  the 
night,  the  young  man  became  more  serious  than 
ever.  He  swore  off  going  to  court,  bought  more 
religious  works,  and  oft  as  he  heard  a  dead-cart 
rumble  by,  he  buried  himself  in  the  Fathers  and 
filled  himself  with  tough  old  rugged  theology 
(that  it  would  plague  the  plague  to  understand.) 
When  Sir  William  perceived  with  pain  that  the 

(*  David.     Now  do  you  know  where  to  find  it  ?)    *— 


JEt.  21.]      AMONG   THE  LAND-LEAGUERS.  IQ 

Quakerine  idea  with  which  Thomas  Loe  had 
inoculated  his  son  was  taking  again  worse  than 
ever,  he  sent  him  off  to  Ireland  to  look  after  the 
estates  which  the  worldly-wise  old  Admiral  had 
secured  from  Cromwell  and  the  Commonwealth. 

e  thought  if  he  could  get  his  son  settled  on 
the  Irish  estates,  the  excitement  of  being  Boy- 
cotted, evicting  tenants,  and  dodging  the  land- 
leaguers  would  divert  his  mind  from  Quaker- 
ism.") 

Alas  for  the  careful  Sir  William's  plans !  His 
son  went  to  Ireland  willingly  enough, /but  Ire- 
land at  that  time  was  so  full  of  Quakers  that 
their  feet  stuck  out  of  the  dormer  windows.^ 
/  Their  familiar  accents  fell  upon  the  young  man's 
ears  like  words  of  welcome  when  he  reached 
Dublin.  "  Con,  avick,  dost  thee  know  the  gos- 
soon in  the  ruffled  shirt  an'  the  cocked  hat?  Ah, 
tundher  an'  turf,  look  at  the  murdherin'  plume 
ov  him !" 

"  Verily,  friend  Murphy,  acushla,  sorra  the 
wan  ov  me  knoweth.  Will  thee  make  a  rush 
wid  me  fur  the  baggage  ov  him,  do  ye  mind  ?  " 

And  so  once  more  the  dreams  of  the  ambi- 
tious Sir  William  were  frustrated.  (He  thought 
when  his  son  got  to  Shangarry  Castle  in  the 


2O  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1666. 

barony  of  Imokelly,  and  met  with  the  fox-hunt- 
ing roisterers  of  the  Killatalicks  of  Killmanaisy 
and  the  Barrynahagles  of  Ballymachanshara, 
and  learned  the  taste  of  peat  whiskey,  he  would 
forever-more  be  a  man  of  the  world.)  The  Lord 
Lieutenant,  the  Duke  of  Ormond,  maintained 
a  brilliant  court.  The  Ormonds  were  soldiers, 
and  their  talk  of  war  infected  Penn.  He 
marched  away  with  young  Lord  Arran  to  sup- 
press an  insurrection  of  the  soldiers  at  Carrick- 
fergus.  In  the  siege  he  so  distinguished  himself 
that  he  won  favorable  mention  in  Lord  Arran's 
despatches  and  praise  from  all  the  soldiers,  for 
he  inherited  his  father's  fighting  qualities.  The 
Viceroy  proposed  that  Penn  should  join  the 
army,  and  offered  him  a  company  of  foot.  Penn 
himself,  fired  with  military  ardor,  eagerly  fell  in 
with  the  idea,  and  earnestly  besought  his  father 
to  comply  with  this  proposal. 

Here  at  last  was  an  open  road  leading  straight 
away  from  George  Fox  and  Thomas  Loe  and 
the  much-dreaded  Quakerism,  and  William  him- 
self was  anxious  to  walk  right  down  that  road 
to  worldly  ambition  and  fame,  when  the  Ad- 
miral deliberately  put  up  the  bars,  resolutely 


J£l.  22.]  A    WARLIKE  PORTRAIT.  21 

refused  his  son  permission  to  join  the  army, 
and  planted  his  own  unyielding  will  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  one  possible  plan  of  carrying  out  his 
long-cherished  desires.  Surely  the  Fates  intend- 
ed that  William  Penn  should  be  a  Quaker.  He 
regretfully  gave  up  his  dream  of  a  military 
career,  and,  proud  of  his  uniform  and  war  re- 
cord, had  his  portrait  painted,  "  the  only  time  in 
his  life,"  says  Dixon,  "  in  his  military  costume. 
/  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  only  genuine  por- 
trait of  the  great  apostle  of  peace  existing  repre- 
sents him  armed  and  accoutred  as  a  soldier."  ) 
There  were  two  original  copies  of  this  portrait, 
and  one  of  them  is  now  in  the  hall  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Historical  Society.  The  portrait  bore 
the  motto,  "  Pax  quasritus  bello,"  and  the  war- 
like inscription,  "  Friend  of  Liberty,  Justice,  and 
Peace."  } 

William  took  off  his  armor,  laid  down  his 
Quaker  gun,  and  resumed  the  business  of  look- 
ing after  the  Irish  estates,  devised  by  his  shrewd 
father  to  turn  his  mind  away  from  the  Quakers. 
In  less  than  a  year  after  his  military  career  was 
closed,  he  went  to  Cork  on  this  business,  because 
nobody  ever  goes  to  Cork  save  on  compulsion,  . 


22  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1667. 

heard  by  accident  that  Thomas  Loe  was  preach- 
ing there,  went  in  one  night  and  heard  him  de- 
liver a  sermon  on  the  text,  "  There  is  a  faith 
that  overcomes  the  world,  and  there  is  a  faith 
that  is  overcome  by  the  world,"  and  walked  out 
of  that  meeting-house  a  Quaker  ;Qn  conviction, 
in  principle,  in  sru1  and  intellect,  body,  bones, 
breeches,  and  hat,  a  Quaker.^ 

On  the  3d  of  September  he  was  worshipping 
in  Cork,  when  he  was  arrested  with  the  rest  of 
the  congregation  by  a  body  of  soldiers^and 
dragged  to  the  Mayor's  court  on  a  charge  of 
"  riot  and  tumultuous  assembling."^  The  Mayor 
recognized  him,  and  knowing  him  to  be  a  friend 
of  the  Viceroy,  offered  to  turn  him  loose  on  his 
own  recognizance  ;  but  William  "  would  not  go 
back  on  the  crowd,"  and  so  went  to  prison. 
The  Lord  President  of  Munster  ordered  his 
immediate  discharge,  of  course,  but  all  Dublin 
and  the  rest  of  the  world  knew  that  William 
Penn  soldier,  courtier,  son  of  Admiral  Sir  Wil- 
liam Penn,  had  joined  the  Quakers. 

There  was  wrath  in  the  house  of  the  Penns 
when  the  glad  news  reached  London.  William 
was  ordered  home,  and  when  he  met  his  father 
the  debate  was  opened  before  the  speaker  had 


jEt.  23.]  THE  HA  T.  2$ 

time  to  put  the  question.  William  did  not  look 
like  a  Quaker,: — at  least,  not  a  broad-brim,  thirty- 
button-coat,  long-weskit  Quaker.  He  was  a 
lardy-dah  Friend,  with  lace  ruffles,  rapier,  long 
plume,  and  curls  ;  but  he  was  a  Quaker  all  the 
same,  as  Sir  William  soon  learned. 

After  a  very  stormy  session  the  Admiral  made 
a  test  question  of  the  hat.  His  son,  in  common 
with  all  Quakers,(had  hat  on  the  brain.)  He  ate, 
walked,  lived,  moved,  and  had  his  being  in  his 
hat.  The  Admiral  asked  if  he  would  wear  his 
hat  in  the  presence  of  his  own  father.  William 
said  he  would.  /He  would  wear  his  hat  to  bed,  if 
anybody  slept  with  him,  rather  than  take  it  off  in 
the  presence  of  mortal  man.  )(He  might  take  off 
all  the  rest  of  his  clothes,  but  his  hat,  never  \J 
You  had  to  draw  the  line  somewhere,  and  he 
drew  it  at  the  hat.  Then  the  Admiral  wanted 
to  know  what  he  would  do  with  his  hat  in  the 
presence  of  the  King  ?  /And  William,  with  the 
calm  confidence  of  a  man  who  has  one  ace  in 
his  hand  and  three  in  his  sleeve,  said  he  would 
wear  his  hat  over  his  right  eye,  aslant  and 
defiant,  turned  up  in  front  and  slouched  down 
behind,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  kings  in  the 
deck/) 


24  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1667. 

The  Admiral,  stunned  with  amazement  that 
any  man  could  set  his  conscience  above  good 
breeding,  faced  his  peace-loving  but  rebellious 
son  toward  the  front  door  and  gently  but  firmly 
eliminated  him. 


CHAPTER  II. 

AND   GETS    INTO   PRISON. 

^PHROWN  thus  suddenly  upon  the  country, 
-*•  William  boarded  around  for  a  few  months, 
explaining  to  his  astonished  relatives  that  he  had 
had  his  resignation  handed  in  to  him.  The  houses 
of  his  Quaker  friends  were  open  to  him,  and  his 
mother,  eluding  Sir  William's  vigilance,  sent 
him  money.  It  was  impossible  for  the  Admiral 
to  continue  the  siege  when  the  besieged  kept  up 
"unbroken  communication  with  his  base  of  sup- 
plies, and  after  a  few  months'  banishment  the 
young  Quaker  was  recalled,  and  &ame  joyously 
home,  put  on  a  clean  shirt,  and  passed  his  plate 
for  another  slice  of  the  fatted  veal.) 

But  the  Admiral  was  still  nursing  his  wrath, 

(although  it  was  a  large,  healthy  wrath,  that  re- 
quired no  nursing  to  keep  it  alive.")  He  refused 
to  speak  to  or  even  see  his  son.  ^William  stuck 
to  his  hat,  and,  reciprocally,  his  hat  stuck  to  him.\ 

f  He  graciously  thee'd  and  thou'd  everybody  he 


26  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1668. 

met ;  but  Sir  William  refused  to  recognize  either 
of  them,  and  obstinately  ignored  his  son,  his  hat, 
and  his  grammar.  \ 

The  Quaker  was  the  most  perfect  democrat 
the  world  had  ever  known.  He  acknowledged 
no  superior.  He  was  the  peer  of  any  man ; 
hence  he  could  not  descend  to  the  servility  and 
hypocrisy  of  what  the  gentle  Friends  called  "  hat 
worship,"  he  would  uncover  in  the  presence  of 
no  man.  He  believed  he  was  as  good  as  any 
other  man. 

There  is  nothing  new  or  remarkable,  however, 
in  that  doctrine.  Many  people  who  are  not  Qua- 
kers believe  it.)  That  is  no  test  of  our  democ- 
racy. Of  course  we  all  believe  we  are  as  good 
as  other  men.  But  do  we  believe  that  other 
men  are  as  good  as  ourselves  ?  Did  the  Friends 
of  those  days  believe  that  ?  Did  George  Fox 
believe  the  priests  who  persecuted  and  the 
magistrates  who  imprisoned  him  were  as  good 
as  himself  ?  Did  William  Penn  believe  Rupert, 
his  father's  enemy,  as  good  a  man  as  his  father  ? 
Did  he  think  the  tyrannical  recorder  who  so 
unjustly  fined  him  as  good  a  man  as  himself? 
Certainly,  we  are  as  good  as  other  men,  and  we 
doff  our  hats  in  servility  to  no  man.  But  are 


JEt.  24.]  A   LITTLE  PAMPHLET  FOR  A    CENT.      2? 

other  men  as  good  as  we  ?  ^  Of  a  verity,  we  be- 
lieve they  are.*  \ 

Penn  now  entered  upon  his  Quaker  life  with 
all  earnestness  and  (began  his  life-long  wrangle 
for  universal  peace  and  general  equality  A  rTo 
show  people  that  he  was  not  a  man  who  stopped 
at  any  expense,  and  that  he  cared  nothing  what- 
ever for  money,  he  wrote  a  bookA  He  wrote  the 
title  first :  "  Truth  Exalted,  in  a  short  but  sure 
Testimony  against  all  those  Religions,  Faiths, 
and  Worships  that  have  been  formed  and  fol- 
lowed in  the  darkness  of  Apostasy  ;  and  for  that 
glorious  Light  which  is  now  risen  and  shines 
forth  in  the  Life  and  Doctrine  of  the  despised 
Quakers,  as  the  alone  good  old  Way  of  Life  and 
Salvation." /Having,  with  some  difficulty,  found 
a  publisher  for  the  title,  it  was  an  easy  matter  to 
smuggle  the  book  in  after  it.\ 

Matters  began  to  look  alarmingly  peaceful 
after  the  publication  of  this  book.  Jonathan 
Clapham  rushed  into  print  with  an  opposition 
book,  "A  Guide  to  the  True  Religion,"  in  which 
he  held,  with  the  utmost  Christian  consideration 
peculiar  to  his  times,  that  if  ever  a  Quaker  got 

*Not. 


28  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1668. 

into  heaven,  it  would  be  by  guile  and  false  pre- 
tence, and  that  he  never  could  get  in  with  his 
hat  on,  and  that  no  Quaker  was  capable  of  sal- 
vation, anyhow. 

Penn  came  back  at  him  with  "  The  Guide  Mis- 
taken," and  there  was  nothing  mild  and  luke- 
warm about  Penn's  books  and  pamphlets.  A 
Quaker  was  permitted  to  fight  only  with  his  pen  ; 
and  when  the  great  apostle  of  peace  spitted  an 
opposition  theologian  on  his  gray  goose-quill, 
there  was  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth,  in 
which  everybody  on  the  opposition  benches 
joined,  while  the  unfortunate  man  writhing  in 
the  agony  of  his  impalement  sustained  the  lead- 
ing part  and  could  be  heard  above  the  full 
strength  of  the  entire  chorus. 

During  his  preaching  that  year,  for  Penn 
preached  when  he  wasn't  writing  books,  two 
members  of  Rev.  Thomas  Vincent's  Presby- 
terian church  were  converted  to  the  doctrines 
of  George  Fox,  and  joined  the  Quakers.  Brother 
Vincent  was  profoundly  agitated  by  this  event. 
He  announced  a  special  sermon,  and  the  church 
in  Spitalfields  was  crowded.  He  pounded  the 
sawdust  out  of  his  pulpit  cushion  in  his  savage 
denunciation  of  the  Quakers,  and  when  in  the 


&t.  24].  THE  FIRST  WIND  FIGHT.  2Q 

fierceness  of  his  wrath  he  smote  upon  the  floor 
with  both  feet  and  shrieked  aloud  that  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Quakers  were  worthy  of  damna- 
tion, every  window  in  the  wigwam  rattled. 
These  sermons  attracted  much  attention ;  for 
Mr.  Vincent,  being  able  to  shout  in  an  exceeding 
loud  voice  and  preach  eight  hours  at  a  stretch, 
with  no  other  refreshment  than  a  barrel  of  water 
and  a  dozen  handkerchiefs,  was  accounted  a 
most  eloquent  man.  Consequently  Penn  and 
George  Whitehead  challenged  him  to  a  joint 
discussion,  which  it  was  agreed  should  be  held 
in  Vincent's  church.  (These  wind-fights  on 
denominational  questions  were  very  popular 
in  those  days.  ^ 

But  Rev.  Mr.  Vincent  packed  the  convention, 
and,  long  before  the  hour  for  the  discussion  ar- 
rived, the  church  was  so  crowded  with  Presby- 
terians that  the  Quakers  had  to  be  content  with 
curbstone  seats,  only  a  few  being  able  to  wedge 
their  way  into  the  house.  Vincent  opened  the 
discussion  by  asking  a  great  many  hard  ques- 
tions that  he  couldn't  answer  himself,  and  Penn 
and  Whitehead  answered  them  so  readily,  or 
objected  to  them  with  such  subtlety,  that  Vin- 
cent lost  his  temper,  and  springing  to  his  feet 


3O  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1668. 

abused  the  Quakers  in  a  long  prayer  which 
lasted  till  midnight ;  then  he  tacked  the  bene- 
diction on  his  "  Amen,"  announced  that  he  had 
overthrown  and  defeated  the  Quakers  at  all 
points,  put  out  the  lights,  and  ordered  the  peo- 
ple to  go  home.  Indignant  at  such  unfair  treat- 
ment, Penn  loaded  his  Quaker  gun  with  another 
pamphlet,  "  The  Sandy  Foundation  Shaken," 
and  for  the  manner  in  which  he  treated  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  in  this  book  he  was 
promptly  arrested  and  committed  to  the  Tower, 
where  he  was  given  eight  months  for  sentiment 
and  reflection. 

His  enemies  tried  to  wear  him  out.  A  forged 
letter  was  picked  up  near  the  place  of  his  arrest, 
containing  matters  which,  had  they  been  proved 
against  Penn,(would  have  taken  off  his  hat  and 
all  the  appurtenances  thereunto  appertaining.) 
He  was  confined  in  a  solitary  dungeon.  No  one 
save  his  father  was  allowed  to  visit  him,  and  he 
and  his  father  were  not  on  visiting  terms.  The 
Bishop  of  London  was  resolved  that  he  should 
recant,  or  die  in  prison.  But  there  was  enough 
manhood  in  the  Quaker  for  a  dozen  bishops.  He 
declared  "  he  would  weary  out  his  enemies  by 
his  patience ; "  that  "  the  prison  should  be  his 


^Et.  24].       A   DISHEARTENING  PICTURE.  31 

grave  before  he  would  renounce  his  just  opin- 
ions ;  "  "  the  Tower  is  to  me  the  worst  argument 
in  the  world."  Then  he  turned  to  his  ink-well 
for  comfort ;  they  could  stop  his  preaching,  but 
he  would  write,  and  he  added  "  one  more  glori- 
ous book  to  the  literature  of  the  Tower." 

"  No  Cross,  no  Crown,"  like  Bunyan's  mas- 
ter-piece, grew  out  of  the  author's  own  persecu- 
tions. Not  only  does  this  work  defend  the 
peculiar  opinions  of  the  Friends,  but  it  contains 
many  truths  that  are  laid  in  the  common  founda- 
tion of  all  Christianity,  and  passages  that  are 
even  eagerly  accepted  by  atheists  and  scoffers, 
and  were  applauded  by  Voltaire.  Penn  never 
wrote  with  the  gloves  on,  and  when  he  had  oc- 
casion, in  the  earlier  days  of  his  Quaker  zeal,  to 
reprove  or  denounce  any  man  or  creed  or  de- 
nomination, he  went  at  it  with  all  the  joyous 
energy  of  a  newspaper  showing  up  the  vices  of 
a  rival  village.  In  "  No  Cross,  no  Crown,"  he 
draws  a  very  gloomy  picture  of  this  much- 
abused  old  planet.  "  As  the  world  is  older,"  he 
says,  "  it  is  worse.  The  people  of  this  day  seem 
improvers  of  the  old  stock  of  impiety,  and  have 
carried  it  so  much  farther  than  example  that,  in- 
stead of  advancing  in  virtue  upon  better  times, 


32  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1668. 

they  are  scandalously  fallen  below  the  life  of 
heathens.  Their  highmindedness,  lascivious- 
ness,  uncleanness,  drunkenness,  swearing,  lying, 
envy,  back-biting,  cruelty,  treachery,  covetous- 
ness,  injustice,  and  oppression  'f  (here  he  appears 
to  have  run  out  of  breath)  V  are  so  common,  and 
committed  with  such  invention  and  excess,  that 
they  have  stumbled  and  embittered  infidels  and 
made  them  scorn  that  holy  religion  to  which  their 
good  example  should  have  won  their  affections." 
Truly,  they  were  a  hard  lot  of  Christians  in 
Penn's  time,  if  he  told  the  truth  about  them. 
But  that  isn't  all.  "This  miserable  defection 
from  primitive  times,"  he  says,  "  I  call  the  second 
and  worst  part  of  the  Jewish  tragedy  upon  our 
Lord.  .  .  .  The  false  Christian's  cruelty  lasts 
longer ;  they  have  first,  with  Judas,  professed 
him,  and  then  for  these  many  ages  most  basely 
betrayed,  persecuted,  and  crucified  him,  by  a 
perpetual  apostasy  in  manners  from  the  holiness 
and  self-denial  of  his  doctrine."  Christendom 
has  become  "  a  cage  of  unclean  birds,  a  den  of 
thieves,  a  synagogue  of  Satan,  and  the  receptacle 
of  every  unclean  spirit."  "  We  find  a  Christen- 
dom now  that  is  superstitious,  idolatrous,  per- 
secuting, proud,  envious,  malicious,  selfish, 


JEt.  24.]         LIGHT  IN   THE  DARKNESS.    .  33 

drunken,  lascivious,  unclean,  lying,  swearing, 
cursing,  covetous,  oppressing,  defrauding,  with 
all  other  abominations  known  in  the  earth,  and 
that  to  an  excess  justly  scandalous  to  the  worst 
of  heathen  ages,  surpassing  them  more  in  evil 
than  in  time."  "  I  shall  conclude  this  head  " 
(Chapter  VII.),  says  this  meek  and  lowly-minded 
non-combatant,  "  with  the  assertion  that  it  is  an 
undeniable  truth,  where  the  clergy  has  been  most 
in  power  and  authority  and'  has  had  the  greatest 
influence  upon  princes  and  States,  there  have 
been  most  confusions,  wrangles,  bloodshed, 
sequestrations,  imprisonments,  and  exiles.  .  .  . 
The  worship  of  Christendom  is  visible,  cere- 
monious, and  gaudy ;  the  clergy  ambitious  of 
worldly  preferments  under  the  pretence  of  spir- 
itual promotions,  making  the  earthly  revenue  of 
churchmen  much  the  reason  of  their  function, 
being  almost  ever  sure  to  leave  a  smaller  incum- 
bence  to  solicit  and  obtain  benefices  of  larger 
title  and  income." 

This  last  charge  is  important,  if  true.  Good 
people  who  are  worried  overmuch  about  the  ex- 
ceeding wickedness  of  our  own  times  may  find 
some  comfort  in  looking  at  the  world  as  William 
Penn  judged  it  to  be  in  his  day. 


34  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1668. 

Still,  it  is  encouraging  to  see,  amid  all  this 
madness  of  universal  wickedness  and  exceeding 
iniquity,  a  handful  of  good  Quakers  who  were 
the  lonesome  leaven  that  was  going  to  leaven 
the  whole  lump,  if  they  had  to  quarrel  with 
every  denomination  in  England  to  do  it. 

The  second  part  of  this  prison  book  showed 
the  wide  range  of  Penn's  reading,  and  breathes 
a  more  hopeful  and  cheerful  spirit.  He  calls  a 
jury  of  the  wise  and  illustrious  men  of  all  times, 
Jew  and  Gentile,  bond  and  free,  Greek,  Roman, 
and  barbarian,  from  Solomon  down  to  Paul, 
Ignatius  to  Augustine,  cardinals,  bishops,  kings, 
and  princes,  Christian  and  pagan,  all  testifying 
"  that  a  life  of  strict  virtue,  to  do  well  and  suffer 
ill,"  is  the  way  to  everlasting  happiness. 

His  next  work  in  the  Tower  was  a  pamphlet, 
"  Innocency  with  her  Open  Face,"  and  shortly 
after  its  publication  he  was  released/ having 
worn  out  persecution  with  his  pamphlets  before 
it  could  wear  out  his  neck  with  an  axe.,)  His  re- 
lease was  unconditional,  for  Penn  was  not  a  man 
to  make  concessions,  recantations,  or  promises. 

The  Penn  family  was  in  a  sea  of  trouble  at 
this  time.  Since  Admiral  Penn  ceased  to  com- 
mand the  fleet,  defeat  and  disgrace  had  attended 


j£t.  26.]  WELCOME  HOME.  35 

the  English  arms  on  the  sea,  and  the  King  was 
anxious  to  replace  the  conqueror  of  Van  Tromp 
at  the  head  of  the  navy.  But  his  wishes  and 
Sir  William's  ambition  were  defeated  by  the 
malice  and  enmity  of  Rupert  and  Monk. 
Rupert  had  never  forgiven  the  sailor  who 
chased  him  up  and  down  the  coast  of  Portugal, 
and,  in  the  intrigues  which  now  placed  the 
dashing  cavalier  in  command  of  the  fleet,  Sir 
William  narrowly  escaped  joining  his  son  in 
the  Tower.  His  health  began  to  fail,  and  he 
longed  to  see  his  son,  the  manliness,  honor,  and 
beauty  of  whose  character  he  was  beginning  to 
understand  and  appreciate.  Exile  from  home, 
imprisonment,  injustice,  the  horrors  of  the 
Tower,  loss  of  worldly  position,  ridicule,  perse- 
cution, all  failed  to  move  him  from  his  convic- 
tions, and  in  spite  of  himself  the  Admiral  was 
proud  of  such  a  son,  and  loved  him.  So  when, 
long  after  his  release  from  the  Tower,  and  after 
an  eight  months'  residence  in  Ireland,  William 
returned  home,  his  father,  then  living  quietly  at 
his  country-seat  in  Essex,  met  him  with  open 
arms  and  a  loving  heart. 

However,  it  was  about  time  for  William  Penn 


to  get  into  prison  again.]  The  Conventicle  Act, 


36  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1670. 

prohibiting  dissenters  from  worshipping  God 
in  their  own  way,  was  renewed  in  April,  and 
the  Quakers  of  course  went  on  with  their  ser- 
vices without  paying  any  attention  to  Parlia- 
ment or  its  enactments.  On  the  I4th  of  August, 
they  went  to  their  meeting-house  in  Grace- 
church  Street,  and  found  it  closed,  and  a  com- 
pany of  soldiers  guarding  the  doors.  William 
Penn  immediately  took  off  his  hat  and  began  to 
preach,  and  the  constables  at  once  arrested  him, 
together  with  Captain  William  Mead.  They 
were  committed  to  prison,  treated  with  indig- 
nity, and  placed  in  the  dock  for  trial  on  Sep- 
tember i. 

It  was  a  very  important  trial.  The  indict- 
ment was  read,  and  it  set  out  the  crime  of  the 
accused  after  the  usual  temperate  and  laconic 
manner  of  indictments.  All  the  world  knows 
that  a  Quaker  meeting  is  a  synonym  for  an 
hour  of  profound  quiet  and  decorous  solemnity. 
And  this  indictment  went  on  to  describe  that 
Quaker  meeting,  on  Gracechurch  Street,  as  a 
place  where  William  Penn  and  William  Mead 
and  three  hundred  other  people  "with  force 
and  arms  did  unlawfully  and  tumultuously  as- 
semble and  congregate  themselves  together,  to 


JEt.  26.]  A    SOLID  JOKE.  37 

the  disturbance  of  the  peace  of  the  said  lord  the 
King ;"  and  that  "  William  Penn  did  take  upon 
himself  to  preach  and  to  speak,"  "by  reason 
whereof  a  great  concourse  and  tumult  of  peo- 
ple in  the  street  aforesaid,  then  and  there,  a 
long  time  did  remain  and  continue,  to  the  great 
disturbance  of  the  peace  of  the  King,  and  his 
law,  and  to  the  great  terror  and  disturbance  of 
many  of  his  liege  people  and  subjects."  His- 
tory contains  no  more  thrilling  and  direful 
picture  of  a  Quaker  meeting  than  this. 

About  all  the  decency  and  fairness  in  this 
trial  was  confined  to  the  jury-box  and  the  pris- 
oners' dock.  Certainly  there  was  none  in  the 
court.  The  prisoners  were  compelled  to  plead 
before  they  heard  the  indictment.  "  Plead 
first,"  said  the  Recorder,  "  and  we  will  show  you 
then  what  you  are  pleading  to."  An  official 
rudely  tore  their  hats  from  their  heads, 

"  How  dare  you,"  he  said,  "  come  into  court 
with  your  hats  on?" 

"  Put  those  hats  on  the  prisoners  again," 
shouted  the  Lord  Mayor. 

(/This  was  done,  and  then  the  prisoners  were 
fined  forty  marks  apiece  for  contempt  of  court 
in  wearing  their  hats.) 


38  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1670. 

"  Shoot  the  hat,"  said  the  Recorder,  smiling 
to  think  he  had  made  a  remark  that  would  pass 
into  history. 

When  Penn  was  brought  into  court  after  re- 
cess, the  bailiff  again  attempted  to  remove  his 
hat. 

"  If  you  take  off  my  hat,"  said  Penn,  "  you 
will  be  sorry  for  it." 

(  The  bailiff  sneered,  and  snatched  off  the  hat, 
and  a  cannon-ball  weighing  thirty-two  pounds 
fell  on  his  feet  with  dreadful  effect.^) 

"  I  am  no  slouch,"  said  the  Quaker,  "  if  I  do 
have  fits,  and  I  don't  wear  a  two-story  hat  for 
nothing." 

And  as  the  bailiff  went  to  the  hospital  he  re- 
membered what  Penn  said. 

Two  or  three  witnesses  only  were  examined. 
They  testified  that  they  heard  Penn  preach,  but 
couldn't,  hear  what  he  said.  Throughout  the 
trial  the  prisoners  talked  back  at  the  court,  to 
the  great  discomfort  and  wrath  of  the  Recorder, 
who  besought  the  Lord  Mayor  to  stop  Penn's 
mouth.  They  were  finally  put  in  the  bale-dock, 
where  they  could  neither  see  nor  be  seen  by  the 
bench,  jury,  or  public,  and  from  this  seclusion 
Penn  shouted  more  vigorously  than  ever,  ap- 


Mt.  26.]  A   BRAVE  JURY.  39 

pealed  to  the  jury,  contradicted  the  Recorder, 
and  objected,  and  took  exceptions,  until  the  case 
was  closed  and  the  jury  retired. 

Eight  of  the  jurors  came  in,  after  being1  out 
an  hour  and  a  half,  saying  they  could  not  agree. 
The  four  obstinate  jurymen  were  then  brought 
into  court,  roundly  abused,  and  ordered  to  go 
out  and  bring  in  a  verdict.  Then  they  all  came 
in  with  a  verdict  of  /"  Guilty  of  speaking  in 
Gracechurch  Street,'*  which  the  court  refused 
to  receive,  and  the  jurors  refused  to  bring  in 
any  other.  The  Recorder  ordered  them  "  locked 
up  without  meat,  drink,  fire,  or  tobacco." 

"  We  will  have  a  verdict,"  said  this  sagacious 
lawyer,  "or  you  shall  starve  for  it." 

The  prisoners  were  taken  back  to  Newgate, 
Penn  shouting  to  the  jurors,  "You  are  Eng- 
lishmen !  Mind  your  privileges !  Give  not  away 
your  rights !" 

Next  morning,  Sunday,  the  jury  was  brought 
in  once  more,  and  returned  the  same  old  verdict. 
The  court  again  abused  the  jury  savagely,  Ed- 
ward Bushel  coming  in  for  the  greatest  share. 
The  verdict  in  the  case  of  Penn  was  "  Guilty  of 
speaking  in  Gracechurch  Street,"  and  in  Wil- 
liam Mead's  case,  "  Not  guilty." 


4O  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1670. 

"  I  will  have  a  positive  verdict,"  said  the  Re- 
corder, "  or  you  shall  starve." 

Again  the  jury  was  sent  out,  and  a  third  time 
came  in  with  the  same  verdict.  The  wrath  of 
the  court  was  unbounded.  The  Recorder  longed 
"  for  something  like  the  Spanish  Inquisition  in 
England."  Penn  defended  his  jury,  and  the  Lord 
Mayor  threatened  to  slit  the  jurors'  noses,  and 
to  stake  Penn  to  the  ground  with  fetters,  which 
only  elicited  ringing  defiance  from  the  fearless 
Quaker.  The  jury,  famishing  from  a  fast  of 
thirty  hours,  refused  to  retire  again,  and  were 
dragged  away  by  force. 

Next  morning,  after  another  night  of  imprison- 
ment, a  night  without  food,  or  fire,  or  water, 
weak  .from  fasting,  wearied  by  loss  of  sleep, 
feverish  from  thirst,  twelve  haggard,  suffering 
jurors, — Thomas  Veer,  Edward  Bushel,  John 
Hammond,  Charles  Milson,  Gregory  Walklet, 
Joen  Brightman,  William  Plumstead,  Henry 
Henley,  James  Damask,  Henry  Michel,  William 
Lever,  and  John  Baily — "  good  men  and  true," 
if  ever  twelve  good  men  and  true  there  were, 
came  into  the  court-room.  The  sea  of  faces 
turned  to  them  anxiously,  and  every  ear  was 
strained  to  catch  the  verdict. 


/Et.  26.]  ALL  IN  PRISON.  4! 

"  How  say  you,"  said  the  clerk,  "  is  William 
Penn  guilty  or  not  guilty  ?" 

"Not  guilty,"  said  the  foreman,  and  all  the 
jurors  concurred. 

The  Lord  Mayor  immediately  fined  every 
man  on  the  jury  forty  marks  (about  27  pounds 
sterling)  for  contempt  of  court,  and  on  Penn's 
demanding  to  be  set  at  liberty  on  the  verdict  of 
the  jury,  immediately  imposed  the  same  fine  on 
the  prisoners.  They  all  infused  to  pay  the  fines, 
and  went  to  prison.  At  Penn's  suggestion, 
Bushel  and  his  fellow-jurors  brought  action 
against  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Recorder  for  false 
imprisonment,  and  on  their  trial  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  gave  them  a  verdict  and  set  the 
prisoners  at  liberty  in  open  court. 

Before  this  appeal,  however,  the  fines  of  the 
two  prisoners  had  been 'paid  by  some  unknown 
friend,  for  they  refused,  as  a  matter  of  conscience, 
to  pay  them,  and  William  Penn  hastened  from 
Newgate  prison  to  Wanstead,  the  country-house 
in  Essex,  to  the  bedside  of  his  dying  father. 

This  son  had  disappointed  all  the  ambitious 
plans  of  the  worldly-minded  father;  all  his 
dreams  of  worldly  advancement  and  political 
preferment  had  been  for  this  boy,  who  would 


42  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1670. 

have  none  of  them.  The  King  had  even  offered 
to  make  Sir  William  a  peer,  with  the  title  of 
Lord  Weymouth,  but  this  Quaker  son,  to  whom 
the  honor  and  title  would  descend,  and  for 
whom  it  was  sought,  refused  it.  But  now  the 
dying  man  turned  to  his  first-born  and  said, 

"  Son  William,  I  am  weary  of  the  world ;  I 
would  not  live  my  days  over,  could  I  command 
them  with  a  wish,  for  the  snares  of  life  are 
greater  than  the  fears  $f  death." 

He  sent  for  the  King  and  the  Duke  of  York, 
and  begged  them  to  continue  toward  his  son 
the  royal  kindness  and  protection  he  feared  he 
might  sorely  need  in  those  troubled  times,  and 
the  royal  brothers  pledged  their  favor  to  the 
son  of  their  Admiral,  and  James  certainly  most 
faithfully  remembered  his  promise  to  the  dying 
man.  And  then,  with  his  family  well  provided 
for  under  royal  favor  and  protection,  himself 
crowned  with  wealth  and  honors,  the  titled 
sailor  looked  at  the  times  in  which  he  lived, 
and  called  it  vanity. 

"Let  nothing  in  this  world,"  he  said  to  the 
son  whom  he  had  turned  out  of  doors  for  obey- 
ing the  dictates  of  his  conscience,  "  let  nothing 
in  this  world  tempt  you  to  wrong  your  con- 


Mt.  26.]       THE   QUAKER'S  INHERITANCE.  43 

science ;  so  you  will  keep  peace  at  home,  which 
will  be  a  feast  to  you  in  the  day  of  trouble." 

In  his  last  hours  he  talked  much  with  this 
Quaker  son,  not  only  forgiving  him,  but  approv- 
ing his  course. 

"  Son  William,  if  you  and  your  friends  keep  to 
your  plain  way  of  preaching,  and  also  keep  to 
your  plain  way  of  living,  you  will  make  an  end 
of  priests  to  the  end  of  the  world."  For  him- 
self, however,  he  died  a  member  of  the  Church 
of  England. 

"Bury  me  near  my  mother;  live  all  in  love; 
shun  all  manner  of  evil.  I  pray  God  to  bless 
you  all,  and  he  will  bless  you." 

And  on  the  i6th  of  September,  1670,  in  the 
forty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  he  slept  with  his 
fathers. 

He  left  all  his  property,  with  only  a  life  inter- 
est in  the  estate  reserved  to  Lady  Penn,  to  his 
Quaker  son.  The  estate,  with  claims  on  the 
state  for  money  loaned  and  for  arrears  of  salary, 
was  worth  about  £1,500  a  year.  And  a  man 
with  an  income  of  £1,500  could  afford  to  be  a 
Quaker  if  he  wished,  although  there  was  no 
money  and  lots  of  trouble  in  the  business  at  that 
time. 


CHAPTER     II. 

^ 

THE  BATTLE   OF  THE  WIND-MILLS. 

"  T  ET  me  write  the  pamphlets  of  the  people," 
••-'  said  Penn,  "  and  I  care  not  who  writes 
their  laws."  So  he  sat  down  and  wrote  a  little 
one,  and  called  it  "  The  People's  Ancient  and 
Just  Liberties  Asserted  in  the  Trial  of  William 
Penn  and  William  Mead  at  the  Sessions  held 
at  the  Old  Bailey  in  London,  on  the  ist,  3rd, 
4th,  and  5th  of  September,  against  the  Most 
Arbitrary  Procedure  of  that  Court."  Some- 
how or  other,  the  publication  of  that  pamphlet 
failed  to  get  him  infft  trouble  or  prison,  and  the 
gentle  Quaker  lived  for  a  few  weeks  in  dis- 
tressing tranquillity,  at  the  end  of  which  time  a 
Baptist  preacher  named  Ives  knocked  a  chip 
off  his  shoulder  by  preaching  a  sermon  reflect- 
ing upon  all  Quakers  in  general,  and  William 
Penn  in  particular.  No  sooner  did  Penn  hear 
of  this  than  he  exclaimed,  "  I  am  a  man  of 
peace,"  and  putting  on  his  hat  sallied  forth  to 


JEt.  26.J  HE  LICKS  A   BAPTIST.  45 

find  this  man  Ives  and  demand  a  meeting  for 
the  usual  wind-mill. 

Rev.  Mr.  Ives  said  he  was  not  a  fighting 
Baptist  himself,  but  he  had  a  brother  Jeremy 
whom  he  would  put  up  against  any  Quaker 
that  ever  put  on  a  pamphlet.  i^In  this  en- 
counter, Penn  smote  Jeremy  hip  and  thigh, 
talking  nearly  three  hours  to  his  enemy's  one/) 
The  Baptist,  accustomed  to  run  by  water,  was 
very  deficient  in  wind.  \ 

Lest  any  incredulous  Baptist  should  have 
any  doubts  regarding  the  result  of  this  en- 
counter, we  may  say  that  it  is  indisputably 
established,  on  the  best  Quaker  authority. 
Penn  looked  around  for  somebody  else  to  fight, 
but  the  dissenting  parsons  being  afraid  of  him, 
he  fired  a  pamphlet  at  Rome,  entitled  "  A 
Seasonable  Caveat  against  Popery." 

As  he  had  now  been  out  ot  prison  three 
months,  it  was  about  his  time  to  go  back,  and 
toward  the  close  of  the  year,  when  he  stood 
up,  according  to  his  custom,  to  preach,  in  a 
church  on  Wheeler  Street,  a  sergeant,  with  a 
file  of  soldiers,  remarking  that  such  preaching 
as  that  was(a  violation  of  the  laws  against 
cruelty  to  animals,)  arrested  Penn,  dragged  him 


46  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1670. 

out  of  church,  and  took  him  to  the  Tower. 
The  last  time  he  had  been  in  Newgate,  and 
it  was  thought  a  change  ot  prisons  would  be 
beneficial. 

This  time  the  Quaker's  persecutors  deter- 
mined to  take  no  risks  on  a  jury.  He  was 
tried  before  the  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  Sir 
John  Robinson,  who  was  the  original  Jack 
Robinson,  and  inventor  of  the  great  American 
circus.  During  this  examination  Penn  refused 
to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  which  was  a  trap 
frequently  used  by  the  magistrates  against  the 
Quakers,  and  for  this,  and  for  his  preaching,  he 
was  sentenced  to  six  months'  imprisonment  in 
Newgate. 

"  Your  father  was  my  friend,"  said  Sir  John 
Robinson,  before  pronouncing  sentence,  "  and  I 
have  a  great  deal  ol  kindness  for  you." 

"  But  thou  hast  an  ill  way  of  expressing  it," 
replied  Penn,  and  he  was  glad  that  his  grand- 
father also  had  not  been  Sir  John's  friend,  else 
that  grateful  magistrate  had  given  him  two 
years. 

When  a  corporal  with  a  file  of  musqueteers 
was  ordered  to  escort  the  prisoner  to  his  apart- 
ments, "  No,  no,  send  thy  lacquey,"  said  Penn, 


JZt.  27.]      AN  EPIDEMIC  OF  PAMPHLETS.  47 

"  I  know  the  way  to  Newgate."  Indeed  he 
did.  There  wasn't  a  prison  of  any  prominence 
in  London  that  Penn  couldn't  find  in  the  dark, 
with  one  hand  tied  behind  him. ) 

Being  in  prison  and  unable  to  hold  any  joint 
discussions  with  the  benighted  preachers  of 
other  denominations,  the  peace-loving  Quaker 
bombarded  them  from  the  grated  windows  of 
his  dungeon-cell  with  pamphlets.  In  his  peace- 
ful, unruffled  way,  he  called  the  Vice-Chancellor 
of  Oxford  "a  poor  mushroom,"  which  must 
have  been  a  pleasant  revelation  to  a  dignitary 
all  unaccustomed  to  hear  people  speak  the 
truth  about  him. 

Penn  was  not  the  man,  in  his  earlier  days,  to 
dissemble  his  thoughts  and  feelings  in  print. 
When  his  pamphlet  was  out,  no  man  ever  came 
to  the  author  to  inquire  into  the  meaning  of 
any  ambiguous  sentence  or  misleading  phrase. 
One  of  the  tracts  he  published  during  this  im- 
prisonment was  entitled  "  A  Brief  Reply  to  a 
mere  Rhapsody  of  Lyes,  Folly,  and  Slander," 
and  it  must  have  been  some  comfort  to  the  par- 
ties assailed  by  it  that  Penn  didn't  know  how 
to  spell  "  lies"  nearly  so  correctly  as  they  could 
tell  them.] 


48  WILLIAM  PENN.  [167!. 

Then  he  wrote  another  pamphlet  with  the 
brief  but  conciliatory  title,  "  A  Serious  Apology 
for  the  Principles  and  Practices  of  the  People 
called  Quakers,  against  the  Malicious  Asper- 
sions, Erroneous  Doctrines,  and  Horrid  Blas- 
phemies of  Thomas  Jenner  and  Timothy  Tay- 
lor, Two  Presbyterian  Preachers."  This  was 
very  soothing  to  the  Presbyterians,  insomuch 
that  grave-looking  men,  with  broad  blue 
streaks  running  up  and  down  their  spines, 
stood  furtively  behind  lonely  corners  for 
weeks  thereafter,  hoping  that  some  happy 
chance  might  put  them  in  the  way  of  wearing  a 
Quaker  scalp  at  their  belts. 

One  day  when  Penn  was  feeling  unusually 
good  and  peaceful,  having  worn  his  hat  for 
three  consecutive  days  and  nights  and  received 
a  great  and  renewing  sense  of  virtue  and  gene- 
ral pacification  therefrom,  he  sat  down  and 
wrote  "  Plain  Dealing  with  a  Traducing  Ana- 
baptist." He  fired  away  at  Thomas  Hicks,  a 
Baptist  preacher,  with  two  books,  "  Reason 
against  Railing"  and  "  The  Counterfeit  Chris- 
tian Detected." 

Religious  and  theological  pamphlets  were  not 
mild-mannered  mouthings  in  the  good  old  days. 


VEt.  28.]        AMONG    THE    TEN  BROECKS.  49 

Besse  tells  how  one  of  William  Penn's  oppo- 
nents "  vexed  himself  to  death"  over  one  of  the 
gentle  Quaker's  savage  pamphlets,  being  the 
original  man  who  was  talked  to  death.  No 
man  laid  down  a  pamphlet  in  his  presence,  that 
Penn  did  not  instantly  see  his  little  tract  (and  go 
him  one  better.  Or  worse,  as  the  case  might 
be,  and  generally  wasA 

When  his  term  of  imprisonment  expired, 
Penn  immediately  resumed  his  labor  of  preach- 
ing, and  went  over  into  Holland,  which  had 
been  captured  by  the  Dutch.  He  preached  the 
new  gospel  of  peace  and  good- will  through  that 
country  and  Germany.  But  he  did  not  make 
many  converts.  The  idea  of  wearing  the  hat  all 
the  time  was  pleasant  to  the  Hollanders,  but  it 
did  not  go  far  enough.  /If  Penn  had  insisted,  in 
addition,  that  every  man  of  his  followers  should 
wear,  at  all  times  and  seasons,  a  green  knitted 
scarf  of  some  woollen  material,  and  a  red  wors- 
ted comforter,  and  a  white  (originally  white) 
woollen  scarf  about  the  neck,  and  one  canvas 
vest,  one  flannel  vest,  one  woollen  vest,  one  vest 
of  sail-cloth  with  horn  buttons,  one  knitted  vest, 
and  one  vest  of  tanned  leather,  and  four  pairs_ 
of  pantaloons,  all  the  year  round,  Holland 


50  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1672. 

would  have  stood  up  as  one  man  and  said, 
"  Here,  at  last,  is  a  man  who  can  interpret  the 
Fathers."^) 

Returning  from  this  missionary  tour,  Penn 
put  on  his  hat  one  morning  and  was  married  in 
it  to  Guli  Springett.  Penn  met  this  charming 
girl,  several  years  before  his  marriage,  in  the 
little  village  of  Chalfont  St.  Giles,  in  Bucking- 
hamshire. Guided,  apparently,  by  his  Quakerly 
instincts  and  that  peace-loving  spirit  which 
breathed  such  an  air  of  conciliation,  and  rattled 
the  English  language  around  in  hard  knots  in 
his  theological  pamphlets,  he  married  into  a 
fighting  family.  Gulielma  Springett's  grand- 
father was  Sir  John  Proud,  a  colonel  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Dutch  republic,  who  was  killed  at 
the  siege  of  Groll,  in  Guelderland  Her  father, 
Sir  William  Springett,  was  a  Parliamentary 
captain  who  fought  at  Edgehill  and  Newbury. 
He  was  an  uncompromising,  iconoclastic  Puri- 
tan, and  whenever  he  found  a  saint  in  marble  or 
fresco,  the  saint  had  to  go.  *'  Be  they  ever  so 
rich,"  writes  Lady  Springett,  "  he  destroyed 
them  and  reserved  not  one  for  its  comeliness  or 
costly  workmanship."  He  did  right.  It  is  a 
great  pity  he  didn't  find  more  of  them.  At  the 


vEt.  28.]  A   FIGHTING  FAMIL  V.  5 1 

siege  of  Arundel  Castle  he  was*  stricken  with  a 
fever  that  cost  his  life.  Gulielma's  mother, 
with  wonderful  fortitude  and  heroism,  hastened 
through  "appalling  perils  and  hardships  to  her 
husband's  side,  and  the  gallant  soldier  died  in 
her  arms.  Only  a  few  weeks  after  her  father's 
death,  Gulielma  Springett  was  born.  Thus, 
from  both  sides,  the  Penn  family  is  descended 
directly  from  families  distinguished  for  courage, 
endurance,  and  fighting  qualities,  and  there 
could  be  no  better  material  for  making  good 
Quakers. 

After  Sir  William  Springett's  death,  his  lonely 
widow  tried  the  gay  world,  and  "  went  after 
recreation,"  she  says,  "into  many  excesses  and 
vanities,  as  foolish  mirth,  carding,  and  dancing." 
Then  she  sought  the  consolations  of  religion, 
and  tried,  it  is  said,r  the  whole  round  of  the 
popular  sects  of  the  day."  But  this'is  hardly 
probable  or  even  possible,  for  Methuselah's  self 
could  not  have  tried  them  all,  had  he  only 
lingered  a  month  or  two  in  each  one.~)  Finally, 
after  much  "  weary  seeking  and  not  finding," 
she  found  the  proper  prescription  for  her  woes 
and  heart-ache,  and  married  the  famous  Isaac 
Pennington.  Soon  after  their  marriage  they 


52  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1672. 

both  became  Quakers,  and  William  Penn  was  a 
welcome  visitor  at  Chalfont. 

And  here  at  Chalfont,  too,  was  Thomas  Ell- 
wood;  and  John  Milton  resided  here  in  1655. 
Here  was  the  "  pretty  box"  Ellwood  found  for 
him  in  Chalfont  St.  Giles  when  the  plague 
grew  hot  in  the  city  and  the  blind  poet  felt  that 
he  needed  a  change  of  air  and  location.  Here, 
too,  it  was  that  "  Paradise  Regained  "  was  sug- 
gested. Milton  had  given  to  Ellwood  the 
manuscript  of  "  Paradise  Lost,"  asking  for  his 
judgment 

"  I  pleasantly  said  to  him,"  writes  the  Quaker, 
in  his  Life,  " '  Thou  hast  said  much  here  of 
"  Paradise  Lost,"  but  what  hast  thou  to  say  of 
"  Paradise  Found."  ? '  He  made  me  no  answer, 
but  sate  some  time  in  muse;  then  broke  off 
that  discourse,  and  fell  upon  another  subject. 
After  the  sickness  was  over,  and  the  city  well 
cleansed,  he  returned  thither;  and  when  after- 
ward I  went  to  wait  on  him  there,  he  showed 
me  his  second  poem,  called  '  Paradise  Re- 
gained,' and  in  a  pleasant  tone  said  to  me, 
'  This  is  owing  to  you ;  for  you  put  it  into  my 
head  by  the  question  you  put  to  me  at  Chal- 
font, which  before  I  had  not  thought  of.' '  So 


Ml.  28.]    PLEASANT  DAYS  IN  CHALFONT.  53 

the  Quakers  are  responsible  for  "  Paradise 
Regained." 

Indeed,  this  part  of  the  country  was  a  very 
hot-bed  of  Dissent.  "  General  Fleetwood  lived 
at  the  Vache,  in  Chalfont,  and  Russell  on  the 
opposite  hill;  and  Mrs.  Cromwell,  Oliver's 
wife,  and  her  daughters  at  Woodrow  High 
House  ;  so  the  whole  country  was  kept  in  awe 
and  became  exceedingly  zealous  and  fanatical." 

The  centre  of  the  circle  at  Chalfont  St.  Giles 
was  Guli  Springett,  young,  beautiful  in  form 
and  feature,  highly  accomplished,  and  a  bril- 
liant musician.  She  had  many  suitors ;  Thomas 
Ell  wood  himself  was,  as  the  quaint  chronicler 
of  the  time  states  it,  "  clean  gone"  on  Guli ;  but 
when  William  Penn  came  along,  in  that  snuff- 
colored  coat,  long  weskit,  and  phenomenal  hat, 
the  rest  of  the  boys  had  no  kind  of  show. 
William  fell  hopelessly  in  love  on  sight.  They 
drove  out  in  a  buggy  with  a  seat,  scarce  wide 
enough  for  one,  and  every  time  he  went  to  the 
house  the  roomy  pockets  of  that  wide-skirted 
snuff-colored  coat  were  vast  magazines  of  gum- 
drops  and  caramels.  Oft  by  the  dim  religious 
light  of  a  parlor  lamp  that  turned  down,  Guli 
sat  and  coaxed  him  to  raise  a  mustache.  The 


54  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1672. 

Penningtons  kept  a  parrot  at  that  time,  and  one 
day  in  early  spring,  when  the  nights  were  still 
frosty  and  sharp,  that  miserable  bird,  which 
had  been  dozing  all  the  previous  evening  in  the 
parlor,  did  nothing  the  whole  day  long  but 
wander  about  the  house  saying,  ("  Oh,  William, 
your  nose  is  cold  as  ice  !  William,  your  nose  is 
cold  as  ice!")  It  was  the  parrot's  last  joke. 

/Next  morning  it  was  found  with  its  neck 
wrung,  and  it  was  supposed,  in  view  of  its 
strange  remarks,  to  have  died  of  cerebral  aber- 
ration, j  Hsec  fabula  docets  that  reformers  are 
very  much  like  other  people. 

Guli  Springett  became  Mrs.  William  Penn 
that  spring,  and  until  the  following  autumn 
Penn  remained  at  his  home  in  Rickmansworth, 
Hertfordshire,  writing  no  pamphlets,  abusing 
no  one,  and  only  preaching  occasional  sermons. 

(  It  does  not  appear  that  he  called  any  Baptist 
preacher  a  liar  all  this  summer,  and  he  ran  no 
unhappy  Presbyterian  through  with  a  pam- 
phlet. \ 

But  this  quiet  home  life,  with  its  simple 
pleasures  and  domestic  joys,  was  too  slow  for  a 
peace-loving  Quaker,;  and  soon  Penn  called  for 
his  two-handed  pen  with  the  terrible  name,  put 


^El    28.]  DESICCATED  MISSIONARY.  55 

on  his  trusty  ink-well,  and  sallied  forth  with  a 
pamphlet  that  went  singing  through  the  star- 
tled air  like  a  hat  full  of  hot  shot.  He  began  to 
have  trouble  with  his  own  people  now.  Qua- 
kerism had  not  then  attained  its  present  state 
of  perfection,  and  (there  were  some  Quakers 
who  Quaked  not  wisely  but  too  much,  Quake 
they  never  so  QuakelyA 

Two  of  these  enthusiastic  converts  set  off  to 
Rome  to  convert  the  Pope,  with  many  yeas 
and  nays  and  much  hat.  The  Holy  See,  with 
that  promptness  and  firmness  which  was  a  pro- 
minent characteristic  of  the  Roman  Church, 
turned  in  and  converted  the  missionaries.  John 
Love  was  sent  to  the  Inquisition,, and  by  the 
use  of  new  and  improved  machinery,  that  had 
just  been  put  in  the  torture-chamber  at  great 
expense  by  the  management,  was  converted 
into  a  material  that  looked  like  a  doubtful  com- 
promise between  sawdust  and  sausage-meat, 
while  John  Perrot  was  sent  to  an  asylum  for 
the  insane,  as  the  preliminary  step  to  his  con- 
version into  a  lunatic. 

Perrot  was  afterward  set  at  liberty,  and  re- 
turned to  England,  where  he  was  more  trouble 
to  his  brother  Quakers  than  all  their  enemies. 


56  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1672. 

He  advocated  the  hat  doctrine  with  a  broad- 
ness that  startled  all  good  Friends,  claiming 
that  the  hat  should  not  be  removed  even  in 
prayer,  except  by  divine  revelation.  Penn  was 
alarmed.  There  was  no  telling  to  what  lengths 
this  hat  business  might  not  go.  By  and  by 
some  earnest  brother  would  claim  that  it  was 
wicked,  impious,  and  blasphemous  for  a  man 
to  take  off  his  hat  when  he  went  to  bed ;  then 
it  would  be  argued  that  a  man  should  wear  his 
hat  when  he  died,  that  he  might  be  buried  in 
it ;  then  it  would  presently  follow  that  the  wo- 
men should  wear  hats  like  the  men,  same  style 
of  hats,  just  as  women  of  all  other  denomi- 
nations wear  to-day ;  then  the  next  step  would 
be  to  have  all  hats  made  not  only  precisely 
alike,  but  of  one  uniform  unvarying  size,  so 
that  all  ages,  classes,  and  conditions  ot  men, 
women,  children,  and  babies  should  wear  a  ?£ 
hat,  and  if  the  hat  didn't  fit  it  was  the  fault  of 
the  head.  (Evidently,  it  was  time  to  sit  down 
on  the  hat,  before  the  hat  fell,  like  a  beaver 
extinguisher,  upon  the  Quakers  and  their  doc- 
trines, i 

A  church  meeting  was  called,  the  matter  was 
kindly  but  sensibly  discussed,  and  Perrot  was 


jEt.  28.]    WARS  OF  THE  TALKING  THINGS.  $7 

fired  out  of  the  society,  his  license  was  revoked, 
and  he  (was  forbidden  to  Quake  any  more)under 
pain  of  prosecution  for  infringement  of  copy- 
right. Perrot  drowned  his  sorrow  and  morti- 
fication in  a  flowing  pamphlet,  called  "  The 
Spirit  of  the  Hat,"  and  Penn  joyously  mauled 
him  with  a  bigger  one,  "  The  Spirit  of  Alex- 
ander the  Coppersmith."  ^For  some  time  there- 
after he  bombarded  the  expunged  Quaker  with 
pamphlets,  until  Perrot  wished  he  was  back  in 
the  Roman  insane  asylum-,  j 

Charles  issued  his  "  Declaration  of  Indul- 
gence" this  year,  and  the  oppressive  penal  laws 
against  all  non-conformists  being  suspended, 
the  dissenters  had  plenty  of  time  to  fight  one 
another,  and  the  pale  air  was  streaked  with 
hostile  pamphlets,  until  it  wasn't  safe  for  a  man 
to  go  out  of  doors  without  a  pamphlet  um- 
brella. £Many  of  these  pamphlets  were  very 
valuable,  bringing  as  high  as  2^  and  even  3 
cents  a  pound  at  the  paper-mill.^  Penn  made  a 
desperate  effort  to  write  two  pamphlets  to 
every  other  man's  one.  This  was  impossible, 
but  Penn  came  as  near  to  it  as  any  man  could. 
His  tongue  was  not  permitted  to  rust  in  these 
stirring  times.  He  had  a  long  and  exciting 


58  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1672. 

wind-mill  with  the  Baptists,  to  which  six  thou- 
sand persons  listened,  and  the  meeting  well- 
nigh  broke  up  in  a  tremendous  row  over  the 
question,  "  If  Christ  was  the  inner  Light,  where 
was  his  manhood  ?" 

It  was  customary  in  those  days  for  some  one 
to  get  hurt  with  a  bench  whenever  there  was  a 
religious  discussion,  but  beyond  a  great  deal  of 
tumultuous  talking  and  irrepressible  clamor, 
and  breaking  down  the  doors  and  tearing  up 
the  seats,  no  harm  was  done  on  this  occasion. 
The  Quakers  came  off  victorious  at  all  points 
in  this  contest,*  while  the  Baptists,  as  usual, 
routed  their  broad-brim  opponents,  horse,  foot, 
and  dragoons,  f  ) 

Penn  also  had  a  public  discussion  with  the 
celebrated  Thomas  Baxter,  who  regarded  the 
Quakers  "  as  so  many  lost  people,"  and  desired 
to  preach  to  them  "  that  they  might  once  hear 
what  could  be  said  for  their  recovery."  The 
discussion  lasted  seven  hours,  before  an  audi- 
ence including  noblemen,  knights,  and  clergy- 
men of  the  established  church.  (Penn  whipped; 
so  did  Thomas  Baxter.^ 

*  Quaker  histories  and  memoirs. 

f  Baptist  and  other  non-Quaker  authorities  and  narratives. 


JEt.  29.]  THE   WIFE'S  INFLUENCE.  59 

The  non-conformists  had  very  little  respite 
from  persecution  under  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dulgence, and  they  occupied  all  that  time  in 
wrangling  with  one  another.  And  while  they 
were  at  it  hammer  and  tongs,  the  disgraceful 
Test  Act  was  passed,  and  petty  magistrates  and 
tyrants  began  to  make  it  so  warm  for  them 
they  had  no  time  to  denounce  one  another  as 
worse  than  heathen,  or*to  break  the  doors  and 
benches  of  the  meeting-houses. 

Penn  continued  to  write  pamphlets,  but  they 
were  milder  in  tone^and  could  be  laid  on  an 
oak  plank  without  blistering  it.)  This  modera- 
tion is  largely  due  to  the  gentle  influence  of  the 
loving  Guli,  and  many  of  Penn's  old  adver- 
saries wished  he  had  married  ten  years  earlier. 
/At  this  time  he  writes  to  Justice  Fleming,  a 
magistrate  who  was  filling  all  the  prisons  in  his 
jurisdiction  with  Quakers,]"  I  know  no  religion 
which  destroys  courtesy,  civility,  and  kind- 
ness." Penn  was  beginning  to  imbibe  the  true 
Quaker  spirit,  and  it  was  even  a  comparatively 
safe  thing  now  |to  shake  a  pamphlet  at  him,  if 
the  man  was  a  good  swift  runner  and  the  fence 
wasn't  too  far  away/) 

Penn  had  been  five  years  away  from  court. 


60  WILLIAM  PENN,  [1673 

He  visited  Whitehall  at  this  time,  with  his  old 
friend  and  fellow-sufferer,  Captain  William 
Mead,  to  plead  for  the  liberation  of  George 
Fox,  who  was  passing  the  greater  portion  of 
his  life  in  prison.  Penn  was  warmly  welcomed 
by  James,  who  carried  his  business  to  the  King, 
and  secured  the  release  of  Fox.  James  mildly 
rebuked  his  ward  for  staying  away  so  long,  and 
told  him  whenever  he  wanted  anything  to 
come  around.  "  Don't  knock,"  he  said,  "come 
right  in  like  one  ot  the  family.  You'll  find  the 
hat-rack  in  the  hall." 


CHAPTER   IV. 

WILLIAM   BUYS  A  FARM. 

A  M ERICA  was  the  refuge  of  the  non-conform- 
4**  ists.  (Six  weeks  of  sea-sickness  was  prefera- 
ble to  six  months'  imprisonment  or  five  minutes' 
beheading.^)  (The  wild  Indians  were  kinder  and 
less  to  be  dreaded  than  the  English  magistrates^) 
and  the  preachers  of  the  established  church. 
Penn  had  heard  a  great  deal  about  America,  es- 
pecially while  he  was  in  Holland,  and  colonies 
of  Quakers  had  already  gone  out  to  the  land  of 
the  free,  settling  in  Jamaica,  along  the  Delaware, 
and  in  New  England.  He  was  first  interested 
in  the  affairs  of  that  portion  of  New  Jersey 
which  then  included  the  region  lying  between 
the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware.  It  belonged  to 
Lord  Berkeley  and  Sir  George  Carteretj^having 
been  given  to  them  by  a  man  who  didn't  own  a 
foot  of  it.)  As  it  cost  him  nothing,  it  occurred 
to  Lord  Berkeley  that  he  could  make  a  good 
thing  by  selling  his  half  to  the  Quakers,  and  as 


62  WILLIAM  PENN. 

the  Quakers  weren't  getting  something  for  no- 
thing in  those  days,  they  were  glad  enough  to 
buy  anything  when  they  could  get  it  cheap. 

So  John  Fenwick,  agent  and  trustee  of  Ed- 
ward Byllynge,  bought  half  of  the  state  of  New 
Jersey,  including  all  the  dips,  spurs,  leads,  an- 
gles, and  sinuosities  thereunto  appertaining, 
^with  all  apple-jack  privileges  and  mosquito 
ranges^  for  five  thousand  dollars.  This  was 
more  than  it  was  worth,  but  the  purchasers 
contemplated  getting  even  on  the  Indians.  Fen- 
wick  and  Byllynge  quarrelled  over  the  bargain. 
Friend  Fenwick  brought  in  a  bill  for  commis- 
sions which  just  about  absorbed  all  the  profits 
and  most  of  the  land.  Friend  Byllynge  said  he 
would  take  the  commissions  himself,  and  let  his 
agent  have  the  land.  But  Friend  Fenwick  said 
>he  was  a  poor  real-estate  agent  who  couldn't  get 
out  of  a  land-deal  more  money  than  the  seller 
and  more  land  than  the  buyer.  \  The  matter  was 
finally  referred  to  William  Penn,  and  this  wise 
arbitrator  managed  to  reconcile  the  two  warring 
Quakers.  Friend  Fenwick  at  first  demurred  to 
the  arbitration,  which  gave  Friend  Byllynge 
quite  or  even  more  than  half  the  land  he  had 
bought  and  paid  for,(and  the  Real  Estate  Agents' 


JEl.  32.]  DROPS  INTO  POLITICS.  63 

Mutual  Benevolent  and  Protective  Association 
supported  the  agent]  and  said  such  an  unusual 
and  greedy  allowance  to  a  grasping  purchaser 
was  unjust  and  unbusinesslike,  and  could  not  be 
accepted  as  a  precedent.  Fenwick  and  a  num- 
ber of  Quaker  colonists  sailed  for  New  Jersey, 
and  Byllynge  remained  in  England,  over- 
whelmed by  debts,  and  was  compelled  at  last 
to  make  an  assignment ;  his  right  and  title  in 
New  Jersey  was  made  over  to  three  trustees — 
Gawen  Lowrie  of  London,  Nicholas  Lucas  of 
Hertford,  and  William  Penn. 

Penn  at  once  made  arrangements  with  Sir 
George  Carteret  for  a  division  of  the  province, 
and  on  July  i,  1676,  East  New  Jersey,  or  all  the 
province  northeast  of  a  line  from  Little  Egg  har- 
bor to  a  point  on  the  most  northern  branch  of 
the  Delaware  river,  latitude  41°  40',  passed  to 
Carteret,  and  West  New  Jersey  to  the  trustees 
of  Byllynge — the  first  great  purchase  made  by 
the  Quakers  in  America. 

Penn  was  now  at  liberty  to  put  into  practice 
his  dreams  of  a  model  state,  his  ideas  of  a  free 
government.  He  prepared  a  constitution  for  the 
new  territory,  by  which  he  secured  the  rights 
of  free  worship ;  every  man  of  mature  age  and 


64  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1676. 

free  from  crime  was  declared  an  elector, (but 
woman  suffrage  was  not  even  hinted  at^  a  secret 
ballot  was  provided  for,  thus  avoiding  bulldoz- 
ing by  factory  superintendents,  section  foremen, 
and  ward  bosses ;  juries  were  made  interpreters 
of  the  law  and  had  the  sole  right  to  pronounce 
verdicts,;  and  although  it  was  and  is  a  very  sim- 
ple word  to  pronounce,  jyet  the  juries,  from 
Penn's  time  to  our  o\vn  day,  have  pronounced 
some  that  were  fearful  and  wonderful ;  (no  man 
could  be  imprisoned  for  debt,  although  a  collec- 
tor was  permitted  to  chase  a  man  all  over  town 
and  follow  him  to  dinner  with  a  bill,  and  dun 
him  in  a  crowd,  twenty  times  a  day,  which  was 
far  more  distracting  and  annoying  than  a  quiet 
imprisonment.  /  West  Jersey  was  divided  into 
one  hundred  parts.  Fenwick  immediately  took 
ten  parts  for  his  commission,  and  became  the 
pioneer  American  land-grabber ;  Byllynge's 
Yorkshire  creditors  took  ten  more  in  settlement 
of  their  claims,  and  the  colony  went  into  busi- 
ness with  what  was  left.  The  members  of  the 
legislature  were  paid  one  shilling  a  day  during 
the  session  of  the  Assembly.  "They  come 
high,"  said  Penn,  "  but  we  must  have  'em." 
The  province  was  a  success  from  the  start. 


JEt.  32. J       THE   QUAKER'S    USUAL  LUCK.  65 

The  doors  weren't  open  ten  minutes  before  the 
house  was  crowded,  standing-room  all  gone,  and 
the  last  man  who  got  in  had  to  leave  his  cane 
outside.  Several  hundred  persons  went  over 
this  year.  ,  In  March,  230  Friends  sailed  in  the 
Kent,  and  King  Charles  visited  the  ship  and 
blessed  the  colonists  before  they  sailed.  It  did 
not  sink  the  ship.  *  \ 

The  good  ship  Kent  reached  New  York  in 
August,  and  found  Fenwick  in  prison,  of  course. 
A  prison  without  a  Quaker  in  it  in  those  days 
would  have  been  the  play  of  "  Hamlet"  with 
Hamlet  left  out.)  Fenwick  had  denied  Gover- 
nor Andres's  right  to  collect  customs  duties  and 
other  taxes,  and  Governor  Andros  had  cast  the 
peaceful  Fenwick  into  prison,  to  prove  the 
legality  of  his  acts.  The  new-comers  acted 
like  prudent  Quakers.  They  kept  out  of  quar- 
rels with  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  and  let  him  and 
the  colony  of  East  Jersey  wrangle  and  discuss 
politics  while  they  attended  to  their  knitting ; 
so  West  Jersey  prospered  as  East  Jersey  quar- 
relled and  got  into  trouble  and  debt,  until  in  a 
few  years  (1682)  the  Friends  saw  their  opportu- 

*  The  blessing  of  a  man  like  Charles  should  have  been  stuffed 
and  kept  under  glass,  as  a  curiosity. 


66  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1677. 

nity,  and  ten  West  Jersey  proprietors,  William 
Penn  being  one  of  them,  bought  East  Jersey. 
The  Friends  made  themselves  solid  with  the  In- 
dians at  the  start,  and  the  Indians  were  pretty 
friendly,  for  Indians. 

The  affairs  of  the  Friends  in  America  at  this 
time  were  lovely,  and  the  goose  warbled  at  an 
unusual  altitude,  and,  taking  advantage  of  the 
general  peaceful  aspect  of  all  things  Quakerly, 
Penn,  leaving  his  family  in  their  new  home  at 
Worminghurst,  sailed  for  Holland  with  George 
Fox  and  Robert  Barclay,  and  held  large  meet- 
ings at  most  of  the  towns  along  their  route. 
This  missionary  tour  was  eminently  success- 
ful. Penn  wrote  to  England  that  "  the  Gospel 
was  preached,  the  dead  were  raised,  and  the  liv- 
ing were  comforted." 

The  Quakers  were  warmly  welcomed  at  Her- 
werden  by  the  Electress  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Frederick,  Prince  Palatine  of  the  Rhine.  She 
was  a  sister  of  Prince  Rupert,  Admiral  Penn's 
old  enemy  and  rival.  Between  Rupert's  sister 
and  William  Penn  a  warm  friendship  existed  to 
the  day  of  her  death.  At  Kirchheim,  Penn's 
preaching  and  his  description  of  the  new-world 
refuge  for  the  persecuted  both  fell  on  listening 


JEt.  33.]  A    SERIOUS  COUNTESS.  6? 

ears  and  eager  hearts ;  and  the  first  colonists  in 
America  who  declared  it  unlawful  for  Chris- 
tians to  buy  and  hold  negro  slaves  were  the 
Quaker  emigrants  who  came  to  Pennsylvania 
from  Kirchheim. 

Having  been  informed  by  the  Princess  Eliza- 
beth that  the  young  and  beautiful  Countess  von 
Falckenstein  und  Bruch,  living  near  Mulheim, 
was  "serious,"  the  missionaries  went  to  that 
town.  They  were  warned  that  the  Graf  was  far 
more  serious  than  his  beautiful  daughter,  and 
that  he  would  make  it  very  serious  for  any  mis- 
sionary he  caught  hanging  around.  The  merry 
Graf,  indeed,  had  a  weakness  for  setting  his 
dogs,  of  which  he  kept  a  large  and  unruly  as- 
sortment, on  unsuspecting  strangers,  and  oft- 
times  he  had  his  soldiers  beat  the  wayfarer  who 
strayed  into  the  castle  grounds.  These  things 
made  the  missionaries  seriously  incline  to  hover 
around  the  orchard,  rather  than  go  up  to  the 

front  door,  sending  word  to  the  Countess,  in  the 

A 

mean  time,  that  they  were  as  near  to  her  bower 
as  their  exaggerated  respect  for  a  strange  dog 
and  an  irritable  father  would  permit.  In  about 
an  hour  back  came  their  messenger  with  word 
from  the  Countess  that  she  would  be  glad  to  see 


68  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1677. 

them,  but  not  at  the  house,  as  Pa  was  always 
nosing  around.  She  thought  it  would  be  best 
to  cross  the  river  and  meet  at  the  house  of  her 
friend,  the  clergyman. 

But  while  the  missionaries  talked  with  the 
messenger,  the  Graf  himself,  with  his  attend- 
ants, rode  forth  from  the  castle,  and  began  to 
ask  them  questions.  He  was  not  pleased  with 
the  strangers.  He  was  indignant  because  they 
refused  to  take  off  their  hats,  and  when  they 
said  they  wore  them  in  the  presence  of  their 
own  king,  the  Graf  intimated  that  that  was  all 
well  enough  in  England,,  and  was  about  the 
treatment  a  king  of  England  deserved,  put  they 
did  those  things  better  in  Mulheim.  He  then 
called  a  file  of  soldiers,  who  marched  the  mis- 
sionaries out  into  a  thick  forest,  got  them  lost 
in  the  dark,  (md  then,  presenting  them  with  the 
freedom  of  the  woods,  turned  them  loose  and 
left  them. ;  They  got  back  to  Duysburgh  about 
ten  o'clock,  but  the  sentinels  would  not  let  them 
in,  and  there  were  no  houses  outside  the  walls. 
(  So  they  wrapped  the  drapery  of  the  sidewalk 
about  them,  and  lay  down  to  pleasant  night- 


mares. 


During  the  journey  to  Wesel  on  this  mission- 


yEt.  33.]  STUMPS  THE  STATE  FOR  SIDNEY.         69 

ary  tour,  Penn  was  greatly  annoyed  because 
some  persons  in  the  wagon  in  which  they  trav- 
elled indulged  in  vain  and  "  profane"  conversa- 
tion during  the  day,  and  then  sang  Luther's 
hymns  at  evening.  ^He  wanted  them  to  give  up 
either  family  prayers  or  swearing,  he  didn't 
seem  to  care  very  much  which.  >(However,  it 
may  be  the  hymn-singing  reprobates  were  not 
so  shockingly  wicked  after  all.  j"  Profane"  con- 
versation as  denned  by  Penn  was  not  what  is 
called  profane*  to-day.  It  is  difficult,  indeed, 
to  understand  just  what  the  gentle  William  did 
mean  by  "  profane"  language.  Idle  talk  about 
the  crops,  predictions  as  to  the  weather,  politics, 
conundrums,  and  all  manner  of  jokes  were  prob- 
ably classed  as  profane  and  vain  babbling  by 
this  good  man,  who  denounced  the  sermons  of 
Presbyterian  preachers  as  "  horrid  blasphem- 
ies." ( William  Penn  was  a  good  man,  but  occa- 
sionally he  would  rake  with  the  teeth  up. 

Returning  to  England,  Penn  went  into  poli- 
tics for  a  season.  Algernon  Sidney,  his  bosom 
friend,  and  the  republican  from  whose  life  and 

*I. e.  that  energetic  and  immoral  adornment  of  colloquial 
speech  with  expletives  and  objurgations  generally  included  in 
Arkansas  under  the  designation  of  "cussin'  and  swarin'." 


/O  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1679. 

teachings  Penn  had  imbibed  many  political 
ideas,  was  a  candidate  for  Parliament,  standing 
for  the  constituency  of  Guilford.  Penn  went 
into  the  campaign  with  a  hat  full  of  pamphlets ; 
there  was  nothing  like  pamphlets  for  Penn. 
One  of  these  had  the  tone  of  a  modern  cam- 
paign document.  It  began,  "All  is  at  stake!" 
— which  meant  that  there  was  a  chance  that 
Sidney  might  not  be  elected.  Then  he  went 
into  the  canvass  in  live  earnest.  He  stumped 
the  district  for  his  friend.  (He  " viewed  with 
alarm"  to-night,  and  he  "pointed  with  pride" 
the  next  night.  He  denounced  the  machine, 
and  he  deprecated  "  bossism,"  and  said  the 
watchword  was  "  reform."  Caesarism  loomed 
like  a  black  and  awful  cloud,  no  bigger  than  a 
man's  ear,  upon  the  horizon.  Sidney  was  the 
friend  of  the  poor  man,  and  the  champion  of  the 
people  against  monopolies ;  Vhe  was  for  cheap 
money  and  plenty  of  it.  He  was  in  favor  of  a 
revenue  for  tariff  only.  Down  with  the  third 
term !  Penn's  eloquence  prevailed,  and  Sidney 
received  a  majority  of  the  suffrages,  but  the 
Court  knew  something  worth  two  of  that,  and 
the  commonwealth  candidate  was  promptly 
counted  out. 


JEt.  37.]      PRESENTS  HIS  LITTLE  BILL.  7 1 

Once  more  Algernon  Sidney  went  in ;  this 
time  he  stood  for  the  town  ot  Kent,  and  the 
Court  put  up  his  brother  Henry  against  him. 
Again  Algernon  was  elected,  and  a  second  time 
the  royalists  counted  him  out.  Disgusted  with 
politics  and  England,  Penn  turned  his  face  and 
his  thoughts  toward  America. 

The  Government  owed  him,  in  claims  in- 
herited from  his  father,  about  £16,000 — "equal 
to  more  than  three  times  that  amount  of  present 
money."  Indignant  at  the  treacherous  manner 
in  which  his  friend  had  been  treated,  Penn  felt 
like  (foreclosing  his  little  mortgage  and  forcing 
the  Government  into  the  hands  of  a  receiver. 
But  he  decided  instead  to  take  out  his  judgment 
in  unoccupied  Crown  lands  in  America.  That 
suited  everybody.  It  was  the  only  way  the 
King  could  or  would  ever  pay  his  debt ;  it  was 
the  only  way  Penn  could  ever  get  a  dollar  of 
his  account.  So  in  consideration  of  all  the 
claims  he  held  against  the  Government,  and  in 
further  consideration  of  two  beaver-skins  an- 
nually, and  one  fifth  part  of  all  the  gold  and 
silver*  that  might  be  mined  in  the  new  pro- 

*  It  would  have  been  money  in  Charles'  pocket  had  he  stipu- 
lated for  petroleum  instead  of  gold.     But  his  most  gracious 


72  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1681. 

vince,  the  King  granted  Penn  a  territory  of 
40,000  square  mfles,  and  the  charter,  drawn  up 
by  Chief  Justice  Worth,  was  signed  March  4, 
1 68 1,  in  order  to  have  it  go  into  effect  on  In- 
auguration-day. The  Merry  Monarch,  when  he 
made  Penn  a  deed  of  the  territory  and  paid  the 
notary,  said: 

"  Here,  I  am  doing  well  granting  all  this  wild 
land  to  such  a  fighting  man  as  you.  But  you 
must  promise  entire  toleration  to  all  members 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  never  take  to 
scalping." 

And  Penn  assured  the  King  that  he  most 
assuredly  would,  and  indeed  and  double  he 
wouldn't.  It  was  all  right  as  to  toleration. 
Members  of  the  Church  of  England  were  toler- 
ated,* barely,  but  the  scalping  proviso  didn't 
hold  quite  a  hundred  years,  for  in  1764  a  grandson 
of  William  Penn  offered  a  bounty  of  $134  for 
every  adult  male  Indian's  scalp,  and  $50  for  every 
female  Indian's  scalp.f  But  this  grandson  was 

majesty  didn't  know  a  "  spouter"  from  a  "duster,"  and  knew 
not  the  sudden  ways  of  a  "  wild-cat." 

*  Which  must  have  flattered  the  Episcopalians  immensely. 

f  The  woman's  rights  party  fought  fiercely  against  this  unfair 
discrimination  in  the  price  of  scalps,  claiming  that  a  squaw's 
scalp  had  the  longest  and  finest  hair,  and  should  be  rated  as 
high  as  a  man's. 


^Et.  37-]        THE   CHRISTENING  SERVICE.  73 

not  a  Quaker.  /And  there  had  arisen  a  tribe  of 
Indians,  also,  which  knew  not  Penn,  and  didn't 
stop  to  ask  a  pale-face,  when  they  "  got  the  drop 
on  him,"  whether  he  was  a  Pennsylvanian  or 
pitched  his  tepee  in  the  wilds  of  New  Jersey. 

When  Penn  appeared  to  receive  his  charter, 
he  came  into  the  royal  presence  in  his  usual 
easy  manner  with  his  hat  on  and  his  hands  in 
his  pockets.  Charles  at  once  removed  his  own 
hat. 

/  "  Keep  on  your  hat,  young  man,"  said  Penn, 
"  keep  on  your  hat,  and  people  won't  know 
you're  bald."\ 

"  It  is  the  custom  of  this  place,"  the  King  re- 
plied, "  for  only  one  person  to  remain  covered 
at  a  time." 

^  "  Queer  custom,"  said  Penn,  "  but  I  don't  lay 
my  hat  around  loose  in  a  strange  house  unless  I 
get  a  check  for  it.  I've  travelled,  I  have." 

Penn  had  decided  to  call  his  province  New 
Wales,  but  the  King,  who  seems  to  have  had 
some  sense  in  the  matter  of  names,  and  did  not 
wish  the  new  continent  to  be  sprinkled  over 
with  a  junk-shop  assortment  of  second-hand 
names  that  had  already  been  in  use  for  centuries, 
christened  it  Pennsylvania — for  which,  if  it  isn't 


74  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1681. 

too  late,  God  save  the  King!  Penn  objected 
to  the  prefix  of  his  own  name,  and  suggested 
plain,  unadorned  Sylvania,  but  the  monarch  in- 
sisted on  the  Penn,  against  which  the  Quaker's 
modesty  still  protested.  (A  reporter  who  was 
present  suggested  that,  in  compliment  to  the 
profession,  he  might  spell  it  Pencilvania,  )but 
William  conveniently  failed  to  hear  him,  and 
the  wretched  scrivener  was  cast  into  the  deepest 
dungeon  beneath  the  castle  moat. 

A  duplicate  copy  of  the  original  charter,  writ- 
ten on  rolls  of  strong  parchment,  in  Old  English 
text,  every  line  underscored  with  red  ink,  the 
borders  gorgeously  emblazoned  with  heraldic 
devices,  and  a  portrait  of  his  most  gracious  and 
distressingly  ugly  majestyyat  the  top  of  the  first 
page/now  two  hundred  years  old — the  charter, 
not  his  majesty-^-is  still  preserved  in  the  office 
of  the  Secretary  of  State,  at  Harrisburg,  Penn- 
sylvania. 

Penn  and  Algernon  Sidney  drew  up  the  con- 
stitution. ("Give  a  province  a  good  strong 
constitution,"  said  Penn,  "  and  it  will  never  cost 
you  a  dollar  for  a  liver-pad."J  The  constitution 
recognized  liberty  of  conscience,  and  right  of 
suffrage  for  "  every  inhabitant,  artificer,  or  other 


vEt.  37.]  THE  RUSH  BEGINS.  75 

resident  that  pays  scot  and  lot  to  the  govern- 
ment." Compulsory  attendance  at  church  was 
not  enforced ;  if  a  man  wanted  to  stay  home  and 
sleep  all  the  morning  or  mend  his  trout-rod  in 
the  back  yard,  all  right.  (  Lying  was  punished 
as  a  crime,  so  that  very  few  lawyers  went  to 
Pennsylvania  in  Penn's  time,  i  Going  to  the 
theatre  and  getting  drunk  were  placed  in  the 
same  category ;  as  also  were  card-playing,  bull- 
baiting,  and  cock-fighting.  Trial  by  jury  was 
established,  an  Indian  to  be  allowed  six  Indians 
on  a  jury  in  all  cases  where  his  interests  were 
involved.  As  the  Indians  never  read  the  news- 
papers, they  made  the  best  of  jurymen,  and 
have  served  the  courts  as  models  of  proper  and 
acceptable  jurors  down  to  the  present  time. 
Only  two  crimes,  murder  and  treason,  were 
punishable  by  death.  ^  There  was  no  gallows  in 
Pennsylvania  so  long  as  Penn  lived ;  but  then 
Penn  didn't  have  the  Mollie  Maguires  to  pacify.  ) 

Penn  advertised  his  land  at  forty  shillings  per 
hundred  acres,  and  a  little  quit-rent,  and  the 
tide  of  immigration  set  in.  Franz  Pastorius  . 
came  over  at  once  with  a  company  of  Germans, 
and  bought  15,000  acres,  and  invented  the  Penn- 
sylvania-Dutch language,  of  which  anybody 


76  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1681. 

( can,  without  any  instruction,  understand  three 
fifths,  and  nobody  can  understand  the  other  two 
fifths.) 

Three  vessels  came  over  during  this  year. 
One  of  them  was  frozen  in  at  Chester,  then  the 
Swedish  settlement  of  Upland,  and  here  the 
immigrants  passed  the  winter,  living  in  caves 
which  they  dug  in  the  river-bank.*  Colonel 
Markham,  Penn's  cousin  and  lieutenant,  came 
out  to  take  charge  of  the  colony.  He  also 
brought  a  long  letter  from  Penn,  to  read  to  the 
Indians,  to  see  how  they  would  stand  that  sort 
of  thing.  fThe  reading  was  not  attended  with 
any  fatal  results.,) 

In  the  mean  time  Penn  was  settling  the  clash- 
ing interests  of  proprietorship  between  himself, 
the  Duke  of  York,  and  Lord  Baltimore.  These 
differences  were  temporarily  adjusted,  as  usual 
in  these  little  deals,  in  Penn's  favor  and  to  his 
great  advantage.  The  thermometer  was  a  foot 
and  a  half  below  zero  when  Penn  missed  the 
train.  But  this  adjustment  did  not  stay  ad- 
justed, and  eventually  Penn  got  left. 

*Why  they  did  not  go  to  the  hotels,  of  which  there  are 
several  in  Chester,  or  go  up  to  Philadelphia  by  rail,  does  not 
appear.  It  is  very  probable  the  immigrants  were  out  of  money 
and  were  waiting  at  Chester  for  remittances. 


,£t.  37.]  PENN  PICTURES.  77 

This  year  his  mother  died.  Penn's  affection- 
ate nature  so  keenly  felt  this  blow  that  for  seve- 
ral days  he  was  ill  and  unable  to  bear  the  light, 
and  it  was  many  weeks  before  his  usual  habits 
of  activity  returned  to  him.  But  when  the  edge 
of  the  great  Quaker's  sorrow  was  blunted,  and 
life  and  its  duties  called  him  from  his  grief,  all 
his  heart  went  out  again  to  the  "  Holy  Experi- 
ment," his  model  republic  in  the  new  world,  his 
colony  where  the  government  and  the  people, 
the  law  and  religion,  should  go  hand  in  hand, 
mutually  dependent  and  mutually  helpful. 
And  the  sound  of  the  Indian  wigwam  was 
heard  in  the  distance.^ 


CHAPTER  V. 


GO  WEST,   YOUNG  MAN. 


WILLIAM,"  remarked  the  Merry 
Monarch,  if  the  historian  of  the  Third 
Reader  is  to  be  credited,*  "  I  suppose  you  are 
going  to  make  sure  the  Indians  will  not  shed  a 
drop  of  your  Quaker  blood,  by  remaining  in 
England,  where  it  is  far  more  likely  to  be  shed 
by  the  headsman  of  the  established  church." 

"  Which,"  replied  the  Quaker  chieftain,  with 
mild  sarcasm,  "  is  where  thee  is  away  off  thy 
base.  I  am  even  now  ready  to  sail,  and  am 
come  to  bid  thee  ta-ta." 

"  What  !  venture  yourself  among  the  sava- 
ges of  North  America?  Why,  man,  what  se- 
curity have  you  that  you'll  not  be  in  their  war- 
kettle  in  two  hours  after  setting  foot  upon  their 
shores?" 

("The  best  security   in  the   world,"   replied 
Penn,  calmly,  —  "  a  first  mortgage  on  every  foot 

*  Which  he  is  not. 


JEt.  38.]   THE   SCIENCE   OF  INDIAN-TAMING.        79 

of  ground  my  particular  savages  own  ;  a  regular 
cut-throat,  that  I  can  shut  down  on  them  any 
time  I  please." ) 

"  Nixie  weeden,"  replied  the  King,  "  I  have  no 
idea  of  any  security  against  those  cannibals  but 
in  a  regiment  of  good  soldiers  with  their  mus- 
kets and  bayonets.  And  I  tell  you  beforehand, 
with  all  my  good-will  to  you  and  your  family, 
now  there  is  no  more  prospect  for  my  borrow- 
ing money  of  you,  I'll  not  send  a  single  soldier 
with  you.  If  things  keep  on  as  they  are  now,  I 
shall  need  them  all  myself  pretty  suddenly." 

"  I  want  none  of  thy  soldiers,"  answered  Penn, 
pleasantly ;  "  if  I  need  troops,  I  can  call  out  the 
State  Fencibles  and  wipe  the  ground  with  any- 
thing that  ever  wore  a  scarlet  coat.  But  I  de- 
pend upon  something  better  than  thy  soldiers." 

The  King  wanted  to  know  if  he  meant  peace 
commissioners. 

"  Why,  no,  I  depend  upon  themselves,"  replied 
Penn,  "  on  their  own  moral  sense  and  inward 
goodness." 

"  That's  all  well  enough,"  replied  the  King, 
"  but  Phil  Sheridan  says  the  only  good  Indian 
is  a  dead  one." 

"Phil   Sheridan  is  a  man  of  war,"  said   the 


8O  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

Quaker.  "When  thy  subjects  first  went  to 
North  America  they  found  these  poor  people 
the  fondest  and  kindest  creatures  in  the  world. 
Every  day  they  would  watch  for  them  to  come 
ashore,  and  hasten  to  meet  them  and  feast  them 
on  their  best  fish  and  venison,  and  corn/ and 
oysters  so  big  that  it  took  two  men  to  swallow 
a  small  one.)  In  return  for  this  hospitality  of 
the  savages,  as  we  call  them,  thy  subjects,  termed 
Christians,  seized  their  best  hunting-grounds  and 
opened  them  up  to  preemption  under  the  Home- 
stead and  Bounty  acts,  located  mining-claims 
all  over  their  mountains,  and,  in  open  disregard 
of  all  treaty  obligations,  forced  them  upon 
wretched  alkali  reservations  not  fit  for  a  goose- 
pasture,  until  in  desperation  these  much-injured 
people  followed  Captain  Jack  to  the  lava-beds 
and  rode  over  the  border  with  Sitting  Bull,(and 
went  into  the  human-hair  business  "-with  limited 
capital  but  unbounded  enthusiasm  and  enter- 
prise." 

"  Well,  then,  I  hope,  friend  William,  you  will 
not  complain  when  '  Old  -  M-an-Down-on-the- 
Quakers'  lifts  your  flowing  locks  and  makes 
you  at  once  a  subject  for  the  hatter,  the  wig- 
maker,  and  the  coroner." 


JEt.  38.]  THE  RIGHT  OF  MIGHT.  8 1 

"  Mighty  clear  of  the  murder,"  said  Penn. 
"  When  I  come  back  to  England  I  shall  have 
hair  of  my  own  to  sell.  " 

"  In  your  mind  you  will,"  replied  the  Kingj 
with  his  ready  wit,  "  but  I  suppose  you  mean  to 
jump  their  hunting-grounds,  like  the  rest  of  us  ?" 

"  Yes,  but  not  by  any  swindling  act  of  Con- 
gress or  miserable  land-grab,"  said  the  honest 
Friend  ;  "  I  mean  to  buy  their  lands  of  them." 

The  King  looked  at  William  in  a  tone  of  as- 
tonishment for  a  moment,  then  he  compressed 
his  lips  firmly,  bulged  out  his  cheeks,  protruded 
his  chin,  and  sank  down  on  a  cracker-box,  smit- 
ing his  knees  and  swaying  to  and  fro  with  sup- 
pressed laughter.  When  he  recovered  from  this 
burst  of  royal  merriment,  he  said, 

"  Why,  man,  you  have  bought  their  lands  al- 
ready, of  me !" 

"  I  know  that,"  replied  the  gentle  Quaker, 
"  but  that  was  because  I  knew  I  could  never  get 
a  dollar  of  my  just  claims  out  of  thee  in  any 
other  way.  I  only  paid  for  thy  good-will.  What 
right  had  thee  to  the  land?" 

"Right?"  exclaimed  his  most  gracious  ma- 
jesty,— "the  cleanest  title  you  ever  saw  on 
parchment;  runs  cleaj  back  to  a  government 


82  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

patent.  Here:  beginning  at  the  northeastern 
bound  of  the  Ashburton  treaty,  thence  running 
southwest  to  a  port  in  Key  West,  thence  west- 
erly to  a  tree  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande, 
thence  across  the  country  and  so  on  up  and 
around  back  to  the  place  of  beginning.  You 
find  a  flaw  in  that  title,  and  I'll  give  you  a  stock- 
farm  in  Iowa.  Of  course  it's  my  land.  I  dis- 
covered it.  Or  at  least  some  other  man  did,  and 
I  took  it  away  from  him." 

"  The  right  of  discovery,"  said  Penn,  "  doesn't 
hold  good  in  this  court.  Suppose,  friend  Charles, 
some  canoe-loads  of  these  Indians  should  cross 
the  sea  and  discover  thy  islands  of  Great  Britain? 
What  would  thee  do,  sell  out  or  vacate  ?" 

To  which  the  King  very  truthfully  replied 
that  he  would  sell  out  his  whole  kingdom  any 
time  to  the  first  man  that  bid  high  enough,  and 
i  if  the  Indians  were  big  enough  and  strong 
enough  he  would  vacate  by  the  first  steamer 
that  sailed  for  France.  "  That  is  the  kind  of 
monarch  I  am,"  he  added,  "  but  you  needn't  tell 
people  I  said  so.  But,"  he  continued  earnestly, 
"  I  have  heard  the  Indians  are  great  thieves, 
and  will  steal  anything  they  can  carry  away,  if 
it  doesn't  grow  fast  to  the  ground.  Look  after 


Mi.  38]  A   FURLONG  OF  ADVICE.  83 

your    doors    and    keep    your    hand    on    your 
lock." 
/  "  What  lock  ?"  asked  the  unsuspecting  Friend. 

"Scalp-lock!"  shouted  the  witty  monarch  in 
a  burst  of  merriment, — "  tra-la-la,  William  !" 

"See  you  later,"  muttered  the  discomfited 
Quaker,  as  he  followed  his  precious  hat  out  of 
the  royal  apartments. 

Penn  bade  his  family  an  affectionate  farewell, 
and  wrote  his  wife  and  children  a  long  letter, 
containing  nearly  four  thousand  words,  which 
filled  them  plumb  full  of  good  advice  and  com- 
mercial and  moral  and  practical  instruction. 
He  bade  Mrs.  Penn  "  be  diligent  in  meetings 
for  worship  and  business;  stir  up  thyself  and 
others  herein  ;"  "  make  thy  family  matters  easy 
to  thee;"  to  have  regular  hours  "for  work, 
walking,  and  meals,"  and  "grieve  not  thyself 
with  careless  servants ;  rather  pay  them  and  let 
them  go,"-£which  shows  that  the  housekeeper's 
struggle  with  the  queen  of  the  kitchen  was  rag- 
ing and  wearing  out  mothers  and  wives  and 
breaking  crystal  and  chipping  fine  china  and 
scouring  silver  with  sand  and  yellow  soap  even 
in  the  wealthy  families  away  back  in  Penn's 
time.  V'  Cast  up  thy  income,  and  I  beseech  thee 


84  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

to  live  low  and  sparingly  till  my  debts  are  paid. '  * 
He  lays  out  her  amusements  for  her.  "  Guard 
against  encroaching  friendships,  ....  and  let  thy 
children,  good  meetings,  and  Friends  be  the 
pleasure  of  thy  life."f  He  bade  her  "  spare  no 
cost"  in  the  education  of  the  children,  "  for  by 
such  parsimony  all  is  lost  that  is  saved."  "  Let 
my  children  be  husbandmen  and  housewives." 
He  preferred  they  should  have  a  private  tutor, 
who  could  toot  in  the  house, ."  rather  than  send 
them  to  schools,"  where  they  would  learn  too 
many  things  he  didn't  want  them  to  know.  \ 
He  bade  his  children  "obey,  love,  and  cherish 
your  dear  mother ;"  if  they  marry,  to  do  so  with 
her  consent.  "  I  charge  you,  help  the  poor  and 
needy ;  let  the  Lord  have  a  voluntary  share  of 
your  income  for  the  poor,  both  in  your  own 
society  and  others."  There  was  never  anything 
small  or  narrow  about  William  Penn.  §  "  Love 
not  money  or  the  world,"  he  told  them ;  "  use 


*  In  many  respects  Penn  was  very  like  other  men. 

\  Once  in  a  while  she  might  go  out  to  see  her  grandmother's 
grave,  or  one  of  the  children  might  have  a  tooth  pulled,  or  some 
innocent  fun  like  that,  but  no  excessive  levity  and  vanity  was 
permitted. 

\  Which  they  would  find  out  anyhow. 

§  Not  even  his  hat. 


^Et.  38.]     SCOURGED  BY   THE   SMALL-POX.  85 

them  only,  and  they  will  serve  you."  "  In  mak- 
ing friends,  consider  well  first,  and  when  you 
are  fixed,  be  true,  not  wavering  in  reports,  nor 
deserting  in  affliction."  "As  for  you  who  are 
likely  to  be  concerned  in  the  government  of 
Pennsylvania,  I  do  charge  you  that  you  be 
lowly,  diligent,  and  tender,  fearing  God,  loving 
the  people,  and  hating  covetousness.  Keep  upon 
the  square."  *  "  Finally,  my  dear  children,  love 
one  another  and  your  dear  relations  on  both 
sides,  and  take  care  to  preserve  tender  affection 
in  your  children  to  each  other,  often  marrying 
within  themselves,  so  as  it  be  without  the 
bounds  forbidden  in  God's  law,  that  they  may 
not  grow  out  of  kindred  and  cold  as  strangers."f 
On  the  ist  of  September  he  sailed  in  the  good 
ship  Welcome  with  one  hundred  passengers, 
nearly  all  Friends,  and  his  old  neighbors  of 
Sussex  County.  LThey  enjoyed  a  very  miser- 
able voyage. \  It  lasted  six  weeks,  and  the  small- 

*  Can  it  be  possible  that  William  Perm  was  the  man  who 
killed  Morgan  ?  It  seems  that  he  was  a  Mason  and  a  goat-rider. 

\  Penn  realized  how  much  easier  it  would  be  for  his  boys  to 
marry  their  cousins,  and  arrange  matters  with  their  uncles, 
whose  peculiarities  they  knew,  and  with  whose  dogs  they  were  on 
friendly  and  speaking  terms,  than  to  meet  strange  fathers-in- 
law  and  brindle  terriers  that  they  knew  not  of,  and  to  whom 
an  introduction  would  be  fraught  with  perilous  formalities. 


86  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

pox  broke  out.  Of  the  hundred  passengers 
thirty  died  at  sea,  and  before  the  voyage  was 
half  completed  every  passenger  on  the  Welcome 
was  sick.  For  thirty  hours,  on  one  occasion,  the 
burial  service  never  ceased.  With  no  fear  and 
no  thought  for  himself,  Penn  moved  through 
the  dark,  narrow  cabins,  crowded  with  death 
and  suffering,  and  the  brightest  qualities  of  his 
manhood  and  Christianity  shone  forth  in  the 
presence  of  that  loathsome  pestilence.*  At 
length,  after  the  horrors  of  disease  and  death 
had  made  the  weeks  drag  their  weary  lengths 
along  like  slow-moving  months,  the  Welcome 
dropped  anchor  off  Newcastle,  and  the  Dutch 
and  Swedes  welcomed  the  new  Governor  most 
cordially  when  he  stepped  ashore. 

Having  hired  a  hall,  Penn  unloaded  a  long 
speech  upon  the  defenceless  inhabitants,  a  cus- 
tom that  prevails  with  American  Governors 
even  unto  the  present  day,(with  the  exceptions, 
indeed,  of  the  Governors  of  North  Carolina  and 
South  Carolina,  one  of  whom  is  reported  as 
being  very  brief  but  very  pointed  in  his  remarks, 
while  the  speech  of  the  other  has  never  been 
reported.  \ 

*  This  was  before  the  discovery  of  vaccination. 


At.  38.]  W 'HAT'S  IN  A   NAME?  8/ 

The  commissions  of  all  the  magistrates  at 
Newcastle  were  renewed,  whereupon  the  incum- 
bents passed  resolutions  advocating  civil-service 
reform  and  endorsing  the  administration,  while 
the  citizens  who  had  expected  commissions  and 
didn't  get  them  viewed  with  alarm  the  growing 
power  of  the  "  machine,"  and  grieved  to  see 
that  the  new  administration  was  making  itself 
solid  with  the  "  bosses." 

Penn  then  went  to  Chester,  where  he  must 
have  been  surprised  to  see  the  Crozier  Theo- 
logical Seminary  for  Baptists,  and  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Military  Academy.*  The  town  was  then 
settled  by  Swedes,  who  called  their  village  Up- 
land. Penn,  however,  changed  the  name  to 
Chester,  because  that  was  the  town  his  friend 
Pearson  came  from.  The  wonderful  strength 
of  will  and  marvellous  unselfishness  in  Penn's 
character  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  he  refrained 
from  changing  the  name  to  Pearsonborough 
or  Pennholder  or  Williamville,  after  the  usual 
American  plan. 

While  he  waited  in  Chester  the  Assembly  of 
Pennsylvania  held  its  first  session,  which  lasted 

*  As  he  says  nothing  about  them,  it  is  probable  that  he  didn't 
see  them. 


88  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

only  four  days.  This  brevity  was  owing  in  great 
measure  to  an  excellent  rule  adopted  by  both 
houses,  "that  none  speak  but  once  before  the 
question  is  put,  nor  after,  but  once,  and  that 
superfluous  and  tedious  speeches  may  be  stopped 
by  the  Speaker."  * 

Among  other  important  laws  that  they  passed 
after  adopting  Penn's  constitution  was  one  that 
every  child  twelve  years  of  age,  rich  or  poor, 
should  be  instructed  in  some  useful  trade  or 
skill,  all  work  being  honorable,  and  idleness  a 
shame. 

Having  founded  a  great  state  with  less  noise 
and  talk  than  is  usually  occupied  in  organizing 
a  debating  society,  the  Assembly  adjourned,  and 
the  honorable  members  collected  their  per  diem 
and  went  back  to  their  farms  at  their  own  ex- 
pense, the  duty  of  distributing  annual  passes  to 
the  members  having  not  yet  occurred  to  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  Assembly 
Penn  visited  the  Governors  of  New  York  and 
Maryland,  delivering  a  few  sermons  here  and 
there,  as  occasion  offered.  He  was  well  satis- 

*  This  rule  is  not  now  in  force  in  the  legislative  assemblies 
of  the  United  States. 


JEt.  38.]  A  MODEL  EMIGRA  TIO.V  CIRCULAR.  89 

fied  with  his  own  colony  and  province.  The 
soil  was  fertile,  "  provision  good  and  easy  to 
come  at,"  he  writes;  the  woods  were  full  of 
game  and  the  rivers  full  of  fish; ("oysters  were 
six  inches  long,"  and  still  growing^  wild  tur- 
keys flew  so  low  and  in  such  crowds  "  they 
could  be  killed  with  a  stick,"  and  some  of  the 
big  ones  "  weighed  46  pounds."  *  A  deer  sold 
for  two  shillings ;  "  wild  pigeons  were  also  killed 
with  sticks  ;"  there  were  "  plenty  of  swans,"  and 
"  peaches  by  cart-loads."  ^  An  enterprising  pro- 
prietor of  a  summer  hotel,  at  that  time,  embodied 
these  facts  in  his  circular.  That  same  circular 
has  been  used  by  all  summer  hotels  since  his 
time,  and  the  copy  has  never  been  changed.f  ) 
Penn  now  looked  around  for  a  good  place  for 
the  capital  of  his  province.  There  was  a  strong 
lobby  in  favor  of  Chester,  the  oldest  town  in 
Pennsylvania,  but  all  the  best  town  lots  in 
Chester  were  already  sold  or  in  the  hands  of 
speculators.  Penn's  aesthetic  eye  was  caught 
by  the  beautiful  country  at  the  junction  of  the 
Schuylkill  and  Delaware.  Some  one  told  him 
that  the  Indian  name  of  the  Schuylkill  was  Man- 

*The  small  ones  didn't  weigh  more  than  30  pounds,  probably. 
\  But  the  tariff  has,  and  so  has  the  bill  of  fare. 


90  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

ajung,\to  which  the  noble  Friend  replied  that 
he  was  Manajung  this  thing  himself, {and  he'd 
call  the  creek  anything  he  pleased.  Three 
Swedes  owned  the  land  Penn  wanted  for  his 
capital,  and  hearing  that  he  was  very  anxious 
to  buy,  they  told  him  that  real  estate  was  away 
up  and  still  booming,  and  they  unloaded  their 
farms  on  him  at  a  margin  that  made  them  laugh 
in  their  sleep  for  a  week  afterward. 

Then  Penn  laid  out  his  city.*  "  Keep  on  the 
square,"  he  had  written  to  his  sons,  and  he  was 
determined  to  make  it  a  very  hard  matter  for 
them  to  get  off  it,  whenever  they  came  to  town. 
He  took  a  straight  ruler  and  a  sheet  of  paper 
and  laid  out  his  city.  He  drew  a  parallelogram 
two  miles  long  and  one  mile  wide.  "There," 
he  said  proudly,  "  if  you  want  to  see  something 
pretty  in  the  way  of  a  city,  look  at  that."  In 
the  centre  of  this  parallelogram  he  located  a 
square  of  ten  acres,  and  in  each  of  the  four 
quarters  one  of  eight  acres,  for  public  parks, 
wisely  {foreseeing  that  some  accommodations 

*  It  seems  he  didn't  know  that  Harrisburg  is  the  capital  of 
Pennsylvania.  Penn  had  a  great  deal  to  think  about,  it  is  true, 
but  such  ignorance  in  the  Governor  of  the  province  was  inex- 
cusable. 


yEt.  38.]  THE   GERM  OF  A   CITY.  91 

would  have  to  be  provided  for  the  tramps, 
along  in  i882.\  Two  wide  streets  fronted  the 
rivers ;  running  from  the  Schuylkill  to  the  Del- 
aware nine  streets  were  laid  out,  crossed  by 
twenty-one  running  north  and  south.  Of  the 
nine  east  and  west  streets,  High  Street  was  a 
broad  avenue,  one  hundred  feet  wide  ;  it  is  now 
called  Market,  and  the  "  lines  of  trees"  that 
were  to  fringe  it  in  lasting  ornament  and.  shade 
have  given  place  to  double  tracks  of  street  rail- 
ways.* The  streets  running  parallel  to  High 
were  named  Vine,  Sassafras,  Mulberry,  Chest- 
nut, Walnut,  Spruce,  Pine,  and  Cedar.  Sassa- 
fras is  now  called  Race,  and  Mulberry  answers 
to  the  name  of  Arch.  Broad  Street,  one  hun- 
dred and  thirteen  feet  wide,  crossed  Market  at 
right  angles,  and  divided  the  city  in  two,  north 
and  south.  All  other  streets  were  to  be  fifty 
feet  in  width.  _ _ 

Penn  thought  he  had  plenty  of  room  for  a 
large  city,  with  a  small  forest  in  front  of  every 
man's  house  and  a  kitchen-garden  in  the  back 
yard.  His  dreams  of  Philadelphia  were  the  only 
small  things  about  him.  The  incorporated  city 

*  Fare,  six  cents. 


92  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

of  Philadelphia  grew  out  of  Perm's  little  paral- 
lelogram, two  miles  long  and  one  mile  wide, 
until  it  included  the  entire  county,  a  territory 
twenty-three  miles  in  length  with  an  average 
width  of  five  and  a  half  miles,  an  area  of  129^ 
square  miles,  and  a  population  of  800,000  inhabi- 
tants. One  part  of  his  beloved  city  did  not 
grow,  however.  The  ten-acre  park  at  the  inter- 
section of  Broad  and  High  streets  did  not  catch 
the  boom.  It  began  to  dwindle  and  fade  away ; 
shrank  down  to  Penn  Square  at  last,  and  has 
finally  been  entirely  obliterated  and  filled  up 
with  the  new  city  buildings,  which  will  be  com- 
pleted about  1892.  The  other  four  squares  still 
exist,  while  the  pride  of  Penn's  city  is^Fairmount 
Park,  which  Penn  forgot  to  lay  out^}now  unsur- 
passed by  any  public  park  in  America,  contain- 
ing nearly  three  thousand  acres.  vThere  were 
several  other  things  Penn  forgot  to  put  in  his 
city,  which  the  descendants  of  his  colonists  have 
since  attended  to  for  him/) 

But  Penn's  town  grew  and  prospered.  The 
Indians  called  it  "  Co-a-que-na-que,"  but  Penn 
didn't  want  to  feel  as  though  he  was  giving  out 
hard  words  at  an  Indiana  spelling-school  every 
time  he  spoke  the  name  of  his  city,  so  he  called 


/Et.  38.]      PENN'S  GENIUS  FOR  NAMES.  93 

it  Philadelphia.*  He  displayed  his  originality 
and  versatility  in  the  christening  of  his  towns. 
He  guarded  his  government  carefully  against 
the  errors  of  the  New  England  codes  and  in- 
tolerance, and  he  avoided  with  equal  care  the 
New  England  system  of  nomenclature.  But  for 
this,  after  he  named  the  first  town  in  his  prov- 
ince Chester,  he  would  have  called  Philadelphia 
New  Chester,  and  the  succeeding  settlements 
North  Chester,  South  Chester,  Chester  Centre, 
Chester  Upper  Falls,  East  Chester,  West  Ches- 
ter, Chester  Corners,  Chester  Lower  Falls, 
Chester  Port,  Port  Chester,  Chester  Village, 
Chester  Station,  Chesterville,  Chestertown, 
Chester  City,  Chester  Court  House,  Chester 
Cross  Roads,  Chester  Land,  Chester  Siding, 
Chester  Intersection,  Chester  Landing,  Mount 
Chester,  Chester  Bridge,  and  Chest-around-the- 
corner.  Happily  for  posterity,  Penn  saw  where 
that  sort  of  a  thing  was  liable  to  run  if  it  once 
got  started. 

*  "  Why  do  you  call  your  town  Philadelphia?"  asked  Charles, 
on  Penn's  return  to  England.  "  Because  that  is  its  name," 
answered  the  thoughtful  Quaker.  The  King  looked  at  him 
steadfastly,  and  then  remarking,  "That's on  me,"  left  the  room 
to  conceal  his  emotion,  while  Penn  threw  himself  on  the  floor 
and  laughed  till  his  hat  fell  off. 


94  WILLIAM  PENN. 

Immigrants  crowded  to  the  Quaker  City  long 
before  there  was  any  place  to  put  them.  The 
new-comers  lived  in  caves  on  the  banks  of  the 
Schuylkill,  or  abode  and  made  their  soup  under 
the  broad  canopy  of  heaven  until  they  could 
build  houses.  The  Blue  Anchor  Tavern  was 
the  first  building  completed  in  Philadelphia, 
built  by  a  man  named  Guest,  who  was  its  first 
landlord.  This  house  had  twelve  feet  front  on 
the  river  and  ran  back  twenty-two  feet,  to  Dock 
Street,  and  was  tavern,  corn-market,  board  of 
trade,  ferry-house,  post-office,  steamboat  wharf, 
Pennsylvania  depot,  and  Centennial  buildings, 
in  its  time.  There  was  a  cottage  already  stand- 
ing on  the  site  of  Philadelphia,  built  some  years 
before  by  (a  man  named  Drinker,*  but  it  wasn't 
built  in  Philadelphia,  Philadelphia  was  built 
around  it.)  Other  houses  were  built  near 
Guest's.  Twenty-three  ships,  freighted  with 
colonists,  came  up  the  Delaware  the  year  of 
Penn's  landing,  and  more  were  continually 
arriving.  Stone  houses  were  built,  "  with 
pointed  roofs,  balconies,  and  porches  ;"  a  post- 
office  and  a  star  mail-route,  "  unexpedited," 

*  Temperance  lecturer. 


Ml.  38.]  HIS  COLONY  A  SUCCESS.  9$ 

were  established  within  a  year.  Enoch  Flower 
opened  school  in  December,  and  taught  boys 
and  girls  to  "  read  for  four  shillings  a  quarter ; 
to  write,  six  shillings ;  boarding,  washing,  lodg- 
ing, diet,  and  schooling,  ten  pounds  the  whole 
year,"— utogging,  gratis  and  regular.) 

The  colony  was  a  remarkable  success.  "  I 
must,  without  vanity,"  Penn  wrote  to  Lord 
Halifax,  "  say  I  have  led  the  greatest  colony  into 
America  that  ever  any  man  did  on  private 
credit." 

And  though  he  said  it  who  should  not  say 
it,  it  was  the  truth.  , 


CHAPTER   VI. 

UNDER  THE   BIG  ELM. 

JUST  about  this  time  the  curtain  was  rung  up 
J  for  the  grand  transformation  scene,  and  the 
full  strength  of  the  entire  ballet,  with  William 
Penn  as  premier,  appeared  in  the  great  Treaty 
Act.  The  date  is  a  little  indefinite.  One  au- 
thority places  it  on  October  14,  1682 ;  another 
says  it  was  near  the  close  of  November,  1682 ; 
still  another  says  it  was  in  1682,  but  with  cau- 
tious self-restraint  ventures  on  no  particular 
date ;  one  writer  also  allows  this  famous  treaty 
the  liberty  of  the  entire  year ;  (yet  another  his- 
torian generously  gives  his  readers  the  privilege 
of  dating  it  to  suit  themselves,  any  time  between 
the  destruction  of  Babylon  and  the  completion 
of  the  Washington  Monument,  j  The  Pennsyl- 
vania Historical  Society,/the  best  of  all  authori- 
ties, with  the  one  exception  of  the  valuable  and 
accurate  volume  now  in  the  hands  of  the  de- 
lighted reader/\  fixes  the  date  of  the  treaty  in 
October,  1682. 


JEi.  38.]  THE  OLD  AND    THE  NEW.  97 

It  will  be  borne  in  mind  that,  prior  to  1752, 
(the  innumerable  insurance  calendars  and  count- 
less tons  of  American  medical  almanacs  for  gra- 
tuitous distribution  by  all  respectable  druggists 
were  not  printed,  and  the  English  people,  both 
in  the  mother-country  and  the  colonies,  had  no 
knowledge  of  the  proper  division  of  the  year,J 
/and  lived  and  died  under  the  ghastly  illusion 
that  New  Year's  day  fell  on  the  first  of  March, 
and  the  year  beginning  at  that  time  threw  the 
Fourth  of  July  on  the  fourth  of  September. \  In 
one  "  Life  of  Penn"  this  appalling  ignorance  of 
our  ancestors  has  evidently  bothered  the  bi- 
ographer, who  speaks  of  the  "6th  month"  in 
Penn's  time  as  June,  and  in  consequence  has 
him  "sailing  before  the  midsummer's  smoky 
breeze"  along  in  October  or  November.  In 
this  present  work,  it  being  the  official  standard 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society  and  the 
Society  of  Friends,  the  greatest  attention  has 
been  paid  to  dates,  and  people  who  discover  any 
errors  in  it  are  earnestly  requested  (to  correct 
them  by  annotations  on  their  own  copies  of  the 
biography,  and  not  to  trouble  the  publisher  or 
author  about  them,  or  to  rush  into  the  news- 
papers with  wrathful  cards  signed  "  Constant 


98  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

Reader"  and  "  Old  Subscriber,"  which  no  man 
ever  reads  save  only  the  proof-reader, — and  he 
has  to  be  paid  for  it,  or  he  wouldn'tJ 

There  are  no  contemporary  accounts  of  this 
treaty.  Bearing  this  fact  in  mind,  remembering 
that  no  historical  record  of  what  was  said  and 
done  at  this  treaty,  nor  where  it  was  held,  nor 
when,  was  made  at  the  time,  the  reader  is  often 
surprised  at  the  vast  amount  of  information 
possessed  on  these  points  by  modern  history. 
But  that  is  a  way  modern  history  has.  Indian 
legends  and  Quaker  traditions,  handed  down  by 
word  of  mouth  from  one  generation  to  another, 
have  given  historians  all  the  suggestions  and 
data  from  which  their  lively  imaginations  could 
manufacture  the  necessary  facts.  (However, 
some  valuable  old  manuscripts,  quite  recently 
discovered,  and,  in  fact,  written  by  the  able  and 
painstaking  author  of  this  work  for  the  express 
purpose  of  throwing  light  and  trustworthy  inr 
formation  upon  this  subject,]  have  added  largely 
to  our  hitherto  meagre  array  of  established  facts 
in  connection  with  this  treaty. 

As  to  the  place,  although  there  are  men  who 
claim  that  the  treaty  was  held  at  Chester  and 
various  other  points,  the  better  authorities 


.Et.  38.]      THE  PLACE   OF   THE    TREATY.  99 

locate  it  on  the  spot  now  marked  by  an  alleged 
"  monument,"  in  Kensington.  Kensington  is 
English  for  Shackamaxon.  "  Colonel  Markham 
had  already  appointed  this  locality  for  his  first 
conference  with  the  Indians,"  says  Dixon,  "and 
the  land  commissioners  wisely  followed  his  ex- 
ample. Old  traditions  had  made  the  place 
sacred  to  one  of  the  contracting  parties,  and 
when  Penn  proposed  his  solemn  conference,  he 
named  Shackamaxon  as  a  matter  of  course  for 
its  locality."  * 

Wherever  and  whenever  this  treaty  was  made 
and  signed,  it  is  well  known  that  Penn  had  been 
posing  for  it  from  the  day  he  landed  at  Chester. 
He  made  himself  popular  f  with  the  Indians. 
He  sat  at  their  feasts,  passed  his  plate  for  more 
baked  dog,  and  affected  to  like  Indian  cookery. 
He  ate  parched  acorns  and  hominy.  And 
when  any  man,  not  being  impelled  thereto  by 
the  pangs  of  starvation,  can,  deliberately  and  in 
cold  blood,  eat  hominy,  that  man  is  too  much 
for  an  acre  of  Indians.  The  Indians  were  over- 
joyed when  they  saw  him  eat  hominy,  it  being 

*  Penn  did  not  know  that  the  proper  name  of  this  suburb  was 
Kensington. 
\  In  Lenni-Lenape  dialect,  "solid." 


IOO  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

the  first  time  any  white  man  had  been  able  to 
devour  that  luxury  and  live.*  After  this  in- 
human repast,  the  savages  began  to  jump,  and 
Penn  joined  them  in  this  pastime.  He  made  a 
few  easy  jumps,  until  he  spurred  the  longest- 
legged  man  in  the  tribe  to  do  his  best.  Then 
William  arose.  He  took  off  his  long  single- 
breasted  cut-away  coat  with  many  buttons,  but 
kept  on  his  hat.  He  toed  the  mark  carefully 
and,  with  a  brick  in  each  hand,  began  swinging 
his  arms  to  and  fro  with  measured  rhythm.  The 
guileless  Indians  had  never  before  seen  a  man 
jump  with  the  weights,  and  these  swaying 
bricks  were  a  novelty  to  them.  While  they 
gathered  close  around  him,  they  could  see,  by 
the  superhuman  gravity  of  his  severe  counte- 
nance and  the  measured  manner  in  which  he 
lifted  himself  on  his  toes  every  time  the  bricks 
came  back,  that  he  was  getting  ready  for  the 
"  boss  jump."  f  Suddenly  the  stately  figure 
crowned  with  the  broad-brim  hat  rose  in  the 

*  From  this  one  can  judge  of  the  awful  strength  of  Penn's 
stomach.  His  long  experience  with  English  prison  diet  prob- 
ably prepared  him  for  hominy;  an  article  of  alleged  dietebout 
as  fit  to  eat  as  beer  is  to  drink. 

f  "Boss,"  a  Lenni-Lenape  colloquial  expression,  meaning 
great,  supreme,  superlative. 


vEt.  38.]  A   MIXED  KEPORT.  IOI 

air  like  a  premature  balloon  ascension,  and  the 
two  bricks  went  flying  into  the  unsuspecting 
crowd,  knocking  down  a  sachem  and  two 
medicine-men  and  creating/  the  most  intense  ex- 
citement and  wildest  confusion,  taking  advan- 
tage of  which  Penn  ran  two  or  three  steps  after 
he  jumped,  then  balanced  himself  on  his  heels 
and  cried,  "  Looky  !  looky  here !  "  The  untu- 
tored children  of  the  forest  marked  the  break  of 
his  heels,  and  his  supposed  jump  measured  37 
feet  8£  inches.  The  Indians  were  wild  with  ad- 
miration and  amazement.)  (One  envious  brave, 
indeed,  offered  to  bet  a  wampum  and  a  half  he 
couldn't  do  it  again  without  the  bricks,  but  it 
afterward  appeared  that  he  had  been  hit  in  the 
eye  with  one  of  them,  and  was  accordingly 
prejudiced.^ 

Shackamaxon,  with  its  elm-tree  and  its  great 
treaty,  has  been  the  theme  of  bard  and  chroni- 
cler and  painter,  and,  faithfully  painted  from 
the  various  historical  descriptions  of  the  scene, 
the  picture  would  indeed  be  impressive  and 
varied  as  a  mince -pie -and -cider  nightmare. 
From  various  well-known,  careful,  and  widely 
accepted  authorities  I  quote : 

"  After  sailing  this  day,  as  aforesaid,  about 


102  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

forty  miles  before  the  midsummer's  smoky 
breeze,  ...  he  beheld  two  Indian  villages  near 
the  water."  "  It  is  near  the  close  of  November," 
on  which  day,  "  October  I4th,  a  scene  took 
place  which  history  has  made  memorable." 
"As  if  purposely  formed  to  be  the  theatre  of 
that  memorable  event,  an  elm-tree  of  extraordi- 
nary size  lifted  high  its  towering  top,  and  from 
its  giant  arms  threw  far  and  wide  a  refreshing 
shade  over  many  a  grassy  acre."  *  "  Under  the 
wide-branching  elm  the  Indian  tribes  are  as- 
sembled, but  all  unarmed."  "  Marching  to  and 
fro  in  their  military  dresses,  armed  with  bows 
and  arrows."  "  The  Indians  threw  down  their 
bows  and  arrows,  and  seated  themselves  around 
their  chiefs,"  for  "  they  came  in  large  numbers, 
armed  and  painted."  j 

Out  of  all  this  contusion  and  contradiction,  it 
is  refreshing  to  walk  into  the  light  of  more  pains- 
taking, elaborate,,  and  modern  research.  Un- 
doubtedly it  was  in  November,  1682,  when  this 
treaty  took  place.  The  elm-tree  was  there,  but 

*  A  refreshing  shade  on  a  grassy  acre  was  a  very  necessary   \ 
concomitant  of  an  out-door  meeting  on   the  Delaware  late  in 
November.     To  this  shade  we  owe  the  fact  that  no  one  was 
sunstruck  at  this  treaty. 


/Et.  38.]  "RICH  AND  RARE."  103 

its  shade  was  not  necessary,  i  Penn  could  keep 
shady  enough  in  a  land  trade,  without  the  assist- 
ance of  any  elm-tree,  j  He  was  there,  and  Solo- 
mon in  all  his  glory  never  wore  such  Quaker 
clothes.  A  "  hat  of  the  cavalier  shape,  but 
without  the  feather,"  a  coat  that  reached  to  his 
knees  and  was  "  covered  with  buttons,"  a  vest 
only  about  two  sizes  smaller  than  the  coat,  also 
suffering  from  an  irruption  of  buttons ;  "  trous- 
ers extremely  full,  slashed  at  the  sides  and  tied 
with  strings  or  ribbons ;"  "  a  profusion  of  shirt- 
sleeves and  ruffles,"  and  a  "  sky-blue  sash  tied 
round  his  waist."  He  wore  his  hair  long  and 
curled,  as  usuax,  and  was  in  his  thirty-eighth 
year,  "  the  handsomest,  best-looking,  most  lively 
gentleman,"  Mrs.  Preston  says,  she  had  ever 
seen. /All  Penn's  biographers  agree  in  denounc- 
ing Benjamin  West's  portrait  of  him,  in  his 
painting  of  this  scene,  as  a  wretched  burlesque, 
in  which  Penn  appears  as  an  "  ugly  fat  old  fel- 
low, with  the  costumes  half  a  century  out  of 


date."^ 


William  was  accompanied  by  Colonel  Mark- 
ham,  his  friend  Pearson,  and  a  company  of 
Friends  and  sailors  bearing  post-sutler  stores 
and  trader's  goods.  For  the  first  and  about  the 


104  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

only  time  since  so-called  Christian  monarchs 
and  alleged  Christian  commanders  had  occupied 
America,  unarmed  Christians  showed  their  trust 
in  God  and  their  belief  in  his  word  by  meeting 
his  savage  children  with  the  extended  hand  of 
amity,  without  a  smell  of  powder  on  it,  and  a 
prefer  of  friendship  uncoupled  with  a  demand 
for  all  the  land  between  New  Jersey  and  the 
Mississippi  river. 

The  Indians  were  there.  Three  tribes  at 
least  were  represented  by  delegates  who  were 
present  in  the  convention — the  Lenni  Lenape, 
the  Mingoes,  and  the  Shawnees.  Letters  of  re- 
gret, conveying  their  cordial  sympathy  with 
the  object  of  the  convention,  and  expressing 
their  entire  willingness  to  serve  in  any  posi- 
tion to  which  the  voice  of  the  people  might  call 
them,  [were  received  from  "  Old-man-holding- 
his-land-for-a-rise,"  "  Sitting  Hen,"  "  Young-man- 
with-a-farm-in-the-Oil-Country,"  "  Theeanthou- 
nobody,"  "  Dontchuwishucould,"  "  Man-with- 
his-eye-on-a-rail-road,"  and  "  Old-man-who-sold- 
land-to-white-people-once-before."^  Several  of 
the  absent  statesmen  did,  indeed,  say  they  had 
no  land  to  sell/ but  they  had  a  fine  assortment 
of  flint  spear  and  arrow  heads  they  would  gladly 


JEt.  38.]  OPENING  CHORUS.  105 

exchange  for  undressed   human  hair  of  Euro- 
pean brands — English  preferred.) 

The  Indian  delegates  who  were  present  were 
largely  arrayed  in  paint  and  feathers,  and  as 
they  squatted  on  the  ground  around  their 
chiefs  (they  looked  like  the  front  door  of  a 
Western  wagon-shop — a  breathing  nocturne  in 
red  and  yellow,  j  Approaching  Penn  with  the 
easy  grace  of  a  man  who  has  had  his  own  way 
all  his  life,  the  Sachem-in-chief,  the  great  Tami- 
nend,*  whose  name,  in  the  Lenni-Lenape  lan- 
guage, signifies  "  Man-who-puts-on-a-good-deal- 
of-dog,"  extended  his  hand  and  said, 

"How?" 

(He  then  withdrew  his  hand,  and   appeared 
very  much  surprised  on  finding  nothing  in  it.j 
The    stately   savage    retired  a  few   paces,   sat 
down,  and  put  his  hand  around  to  his  hip. 

"  Look  out,"  said  Colonel  Markham,  "  he's 
feeling  for  a  pistol."  /And  then  he  stepped  be- 
hind his  stately  cousin,  remarking,  "  We  will 
die  together."  y 

Instead  of  a  pistol,  however,  the  Sachem 
drew  from  his  pocket  a  sort  of  head-stall  or 

*  The  author  of  Tammany  Hall,  New  York,  and  the  patron 
saint  of  a  great  political  party. 


I06  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

chaplet,  on  which  was  fastened  a  small  horn, 
the  emblem  of  sovereign  power  and  authority, 
the  wearing  of  which  made  the  occasion  and 
the  locality  sacred  and  inviolate. 

f"  I  always  take  a  horn  before  I  make  a 
trade,"  said  the  Sachem,  j  (This  was  his  little 
joke,  at  which  alL  Indians  owning  his  sover- 
eignty were  compelled  to  laugh  twice  a  year.) 

Penn  having  caught  the  eye  of  the  Speaker 
now  obtained  the  floor,  and  addressed  the  house 
ron  the  subject  of  the  Pennsylvania  land  bill. 
He  held  in  his  hand  a  roll  of  parchment  pur- 
porting to  be  the  treaty  of  amity  and  purchase, 
but  which  was  really  the  manuscript  of  his  ex- 
tempore speech.)  A  deathlike  stillness  pervaded 
the  assembly,  only  broken  by  the  mellow  notes 
of  the  distant  war-whoops  that  the  little  Indian 
children  were  trundling  in  Fairmount  Park. 
Penn  cleared  his  throat,  chewed  a  troche,  and 
said, 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  ladies  and  gentlemen — " 

At  this  point  he  was  interrupted  by  a  Mingo 
sachem,  who  rose  to  a  point  of  order  and  said, 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  does  not  the  honorable  gentle- 
man speak  the  Mingo  language  ?" 

Penn  replied  that  he  knew  the  tune  very  well, 


y£t.  38.]  THE  NORA  TION.  1 07 

but  he  didn't  know  the  words.  The  Court 
then  informed  him  that  he  would  have  to  pro- 
vide an  interpreter  at  his  own  expense,  as  the 
Mingoes  were  there  first,  and  held  the  age  on 
the  language. 

An  interpreter  was  then  secured,  and  Penn 
resumed : 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  ladies  and  gentlemen:  I  am — 
er  ah — I  am — ha,  h'm — I  am  not — I  am —  I  am 
sensible — ha,  unaccustomed  as  I  am  to — ha,  pub- 
lic speaking — ha.  Er  ah — Brothers,  listen." 

Old-man-with-cotton-in-his-ears  to  Interpre- 
ter— "  What  is  he  saying  ?" 

Interpreter — "  Blowed  if  I  know." 

William  Penn — "  But  again  !  Brothers,  lis- 
ten !  We  are  all  brothers !"  (Derisive  laughter 
from  the  squaws.)  "  That  is — er  um — and  sis- 
ters." (Derisive  laughter  and  cries  of  "Oh, 
oh !"  from  the  braves.)  "  To  resume !  We  are 
all  children  together,  of  one  family,  and  we 
must  love  one  another." 

Interpreter — "  He  is  now  giving  us  confec- 
tionery." 

William  Penn — "  There  is  no  need  for  us  to 
quarrel.  The  world  is  big  enough  for  us  all ; 
for  the  red  brothers  and  the  white  brothers, 


108  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

too.  And  there  is  fish,  and  deer,  and  turkeys, 
and  corn,  and  oysters,  and  planked  shad,  and 
soup,  and  beans,  and  beef,  for  us  all." 

Young-man-not-afraid-of-the-vial  to  Interpre- 
ter—^ Didn't  he  say  anything  about  rum  ?" 

Interpreter  —  "Don't  talk  back.  No,  he 
hasn't  got  down  to  business  yet") 

William  Penn — "  Therefore,  if  at  any  time 
the  red  men  or  the  white  men — " 

A  Shawnee  delegate — "  Ask  him  if  this  is  a 
chess  problem  he  is  giving  us?"  ) 

William  Penn,  corrected  by  the  Interpreter — 
"If  the  red  brothers  see  anything  the  white 
brothers  have  that  they  want,  or  vice  versa" 
(loud  cries  of  "  Construe  !  construe  !"),  "  they 
must  not  fight  and  take  it  away.  Oh  no,  that 
would  be  very  naughty.  And,  besides,  before  I 
get  through  with  thee,  I'll  show  thee  how  to 
get  all  thee  wants  from  an  Indian  without  fight- 
ing about  it." 

"  What  does  he  mean  by  that,  and  why  does 
the  brother  lay  the  palm  of  his  forefinger  on 
the  side  of  his  nose  and  close  one  eye  ?"  asked 
a  delegate  from  the  Delaware  nation. 

"  He  says,"  replied  the  Interpreter,  "  that  you 
will  understand  him  better  when  you  grow 


JEt.  38.]         GIVING  IT   TO    THEM  EASY.  1 09 

older,  and  he  holds  his  finger  that  way  because 
his  memory  is  poor." 

"  Ugh  !     Tell  him  to  go  on  with  the  racket." 

William  Penn  resumed :  "  Moreover,  if  we 
fight,  thee  will  get  left." 

A  Mingo  delegate — "  Please  ask  him  to  de- 
monstrate that  hypothesis." 

William  Penn — "  With  pleasure.  Thy  own 
eyes  see  our  canoes  yonder."  (Cries  of  "  Oh, 
oh  !"  and  caustic  requests  for  the  Speaker  to  ex- 
plain to  the  gentleman  the  difference  between  a 
ship  and  a  canoe.)  "  Now,  you  see  our  canoes 
are  bigger  than  thy  canoes,  and  bur  bows  and 
arrows — " 

Interpreter — "  He  means  guns,  but  he  seems 
to  be  a  little  off  in  his  vocabulary  to-day.  He 
means  all  right." 

William  Penn — "  Our  bows  and  arrows  send 
out  thunder  and  lightning.  /Nothing  can  stand 
before  them." 

Old-man-with-his-arm-in-a-sling — "  No,  and  no- 
body could  stand  behind  those  Dutch  muskets 
we   took  away   from   the  Swedes  last  winten) 
Tell  him  I'd  rather  be  shot  at  with  some  of  his 
thunder  and  lightning  than  touch  it  off." 

William    Penn — "  We   could   easily   kill  thee 


1 10  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

with  our  bows  and  arrows,  and  take  thy 
land." 

Interpreter — "Young  -  man  -  with  -  a  -  patch  -  on- 
his-eye  wishes  me  to  say  that  perhaps  you 
would  like  to  come  out  to  the  lava-beds  and  try 
that  on,  if  you  think  it's  so  easy.  He  says  he's 
heard  white  men  talk  that  way  before,  but  they 
took  good  care  to  keep  off  the  reservation  all 
the  same." 

William  Penn — "  That's  all  right ;  but  my  red 
brother  is  here,  and  I  am  not  going  to  the  lava- 
beds.  Brothers,  I  and  my  people  are  not 
mouth-slappers  and  bad  men  from  Oshkosh. 
We  do  not  carry  razors  in  our  boots.  We  are 
not  come  to  hurt  thee." 

Interpreter — "  The  big  Indian  with  the  bear- 
claw  necklace  and  his  ears  painted  black  says, 
'  You're  right,  you  don't  look  very  dangerous.' 
He's  an  awful  bad  Indian.  Cut  a  man  at  a 
dance  last  Friday  night,  and  has  served  two 
terms  in  Moyamensing." 

William  Penn — "  We  are  met  on  the  broad 
pathway  of  good  faith  and  good  will,  so  that 
no  advantage  is  to  be  taken  on  either  side.  I 
will  not  call  you  children  or  brothers,  as  the 
Marylanders  did,  for  Heaven  forbid  I  should  do 


JEt.  38.]          A   FAR-FETCHED  EXAMPLE.  Ill 

anything  like  a  Marylander,  because  it's  a  wise 
father  in  these  days  that  can  keep  even  with  his 
son  or  prevent  his  daughter  from  marrying  the 
hostler.  Neither  will  I  compare  the  friendship 
between  us  to  a  chain,  which  the  passing  tramp 
or  the  casual  Indian  may  bear  away  to  the 
nearest  junk-shop.  But  I  will  consider  you  the 
same  flesh  and  blood  with  ourselves,  just  as 
though  one  man's  body  were  divided  into  two 
parts." 

"  Tell  him,"  remarked  an  old  Indian  painted 
in  three  colors,  and  wearing  only  one  ear  and 
no  scalp,  r*  Tell  him  I  have  seen,  and  not  far 
away  from  this  pleasant  land,  down  here  in 
Virginia,  one  man's  body  divided  into  as  many 
parts  as  there  were  Injuns  in  the  crowd  who 
could  get  at  him,  and  he  didn't  seem  to  be  a 
very  happy  man  either."  J 

"  And  tell  him,"  said  a  young  sachem  in  his 
bare  head  and  with  three  bear-skin  patches  in 
the  epilogue  of  his  buckskin  ulster,  "  to  open 
his  kiesters  and  show  up  his  samples.  We  can 
talk  when  it's  too  dark  to  do  anything  else." 

"  And  now,  in  conclusion,"  said  William 
Penn,  "(tor  time  flies  and  money  is  twelve 
per  centjl'll  tell  thee  what  I'll  do  with  thee. 


112  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

We  didn't  come  here  to  rob  thee,  and  I  didn't 
come  here  to-day  to  deal  in  real  estate  at  all. 
but  if  thee  has  any  land  thee  wants  to  sell,  I'll 
make  thee  an  offer  as  square  as  a  horse-trade. 
I  don't  want  to  beat  thee  out  of  a  foot  of 
ground,  and  I  don't  want  to  buy  to-day,  but  if 
thee  is  anxious  to  sell,  I'll  give  right  here,  cash 
and  goods  right  down  on  the  counter,  five 
hundred  dollars  for  the  state  of  Pennsylvania, 
with  all  the  dips,  spurs,  angles,  leads,  sinuosi- 
ties, stock,  fixtures,  good-will  and  other  appur- 
tenances thereunto  appertaining." 

"  They  want  you,"  explained  the  Interpreter, 
"  to  make  it  five  hundred  and  a  half." 

"  Couldn't  do  it,"  replied  Penn.  "  I  won't 
make  a  dollar  out  of  it  at  five  hundred  dollars. 
I've  paid  sixteen  thousand  pounds  for  it  now,  to 
a  man  that  never  owned  a  foot  of  it." 

"  He  wants  to  know,  Onas,"  *  said  the  Inter- 
preter, when  a  sachem  finished  speaking,  "  if 
you  paid  sixteen  thousand  pounds  for  the  state 
to  a  land-grabber  who  couldn't  give  you  a  deed, 

*"  Onas"  was  the  nearest  the  Indians  could  get  to  Penn's 
name.  Onas,  in  their  own  sweet  tongue,  meant  a  quill,  and 
quill-pens  were  the  only  kind  in  use  among  the  Indians. 
Although  why  it  wasn't  just  as  easy  to  say  Penn,  even  with 
two  n's,  as  Onas,  no  one  but  an  Indian  could  tell. 


vEt.  38.]          AN  AWKWARD   QUESTION.  113 

if  you  think  it's  a  square  deal  to  offer  the  right- 
ful owners  only  five  hundred  dollars  to  quiet 
title  ?" 

^And  the  silence  that  fell  on  the  assembly  was 
so  profound  you  might  have  heard  a  gumdropA 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  PIONEER  LAND-OFFICE. 

"RECOVERING    from   the   momentary   em- 

IX 

AV  barrassment  into  which  the  irrelevant  ques- 
tion of  the  untutored  savage  had  thrown  him, 
William  hastened  to  explain  that  he  hadn't 
really  paid  one  continental  dollar  for  the  pro- 
vince as  yet.  That  a  man — his  most  gracious 
majesty  the  King,  in  fact — owed  him  16,000 
pounds,  and  he  knew  he  was  never  going  to  get 
a  shilling  of  it.  And,  somehow,  the  King  had 
the  same  kind  of  presentiment^and  when  Penn 
took  this  land  for  that  debt,  it  was  tacitly  under- 
stood on  both  sides  that  the  King  hadn't  lost  a 
nickel,  while  it  was  the  softest  thing  for  the 
Quaker  that  could  happen.  Moreover,  Penn 
assured  the  sachems  that  he  didn't  come  there 
to  make  a  real-estate  deal.  He  had  royal  letters 
patent,  right  there  in  his  pocket,  conveying  to 
William  Penn,  himself,  his  heirs,  executors,  ad- 
ministrators, and  assigns,  to  have  and  to  hold, 


JEl.  38.]  THE  PLA  T.  1 1 5 

for  better  or  worse,  be  the  same  more  or  less, 
all  and  several,  that  part  of  North  America 
lying  between  New  Jersey,  Maryland,  the  Ohio 
river  and  lake  Erie,  as  hereinafter  described  by 
metes  and  bounds  as  follows,  to  wit,  namely, 
viz. ;  being  a  tract  or  parcel  of  land  300  miles 
long  and  160  miles  wide,  and  containing  47,000 
square  miles,  being  a  trifle  smaller  than-  the 
kingdom  of  England. 

The  Indians  weakened  when  they  heard  this, 
and  said  they  wouldn't  stay  in,  but  Penn  again 
assured  them  it  was  not  his  intention  to  take  a 
mean  advantage  of  them.  He  did  not  come 
over  in  the  Mayflower,  but  he  believed  in  paying 
an  Indian  for  his  land  before  you  converted  him 
with  a  musket  and  then  took  his  land  because 
he  died  intestate.  He  just  wanted  them  to  sign 
this  treaty  of  friendship,  which  would  relieve 
both  sides  from  the  expense  of  a  standing  army, 
and  ratify  the  purchases  already  made  and  the 
legal  validity  of  the  King's  letters  patent  in 
order  to  quiet  his  title,  and  they  would  talk  real 
estate  some  other  time.  This  was  satisfactory 
to  the  Indians ;  with  much  perspiration  and 
many  blots  and  smears,  and  much  thrusting  out 
of  the  tongue,  the  Indians  signed  the  treaty,  and 


Il6  WILLIAM  PENN. 

quit-claimed  the  Keystone  State  to  William 
Penn  for  $515.50,  with  the  understanding  that 
they  should  have  the  privilege  of  selling  it  all 
over  to  him  again,  from  time  to  time,  in  sepa- 
rate tracts.  Among  the  articles  for  which  the 
Indians  quit-claimed  their  rights  to  the  state, 
Friend  Weems  enumerates  "20  guns,"  worth 
$7  each,  a  $7  gun  being  considered  the  safest 
possible  kind  of  gun  for  the  white  man,  in  the 
hands  of  an  Indian.*  Then  followed  "  20  fath- 
oms of  match  coat,"  whatever  that  is,  and  "  20 
fathoms  of  stroud  water,"  supposed  to  be  some- 
thing for  the  hair  or  handkerchief ;  "  40  toma- 
hawks," to  be  used  in  killing  other  Indians  only  ; 
"  100  bars  of  lead,"  to  afford  youthful  Indians 
the  means  of  securing  admission  to  the  circus ; 
"  100  knives,"  worth  25  cents  each,  and  therefore 
presumably  "  Barlows ;"  "  30  glass  bottles  ;"f 
I "  30  pewter  spoons"  (not  marked  ;  probably 

V  k 

from  the  groom's   mother)  t  "  100  awl-blades" 
(accompanied  by  a  copy  of  "  Every   Indian  his 

*  We  are  kinder  to  the  Indians  now.  No  respectable  scalper 
will  look  at  a  gun  tendered  by  the  government,  less  expensive 
than  a  $47  Winchester.  Our  Indians  are  much  better  armed 
than  the  regulars. 

f  Dear,  dear,  dear!  This  was  before  Mr.  Hayes  was  Presi- 
dent. 


jEt.  38]  MORE  LEGAL    TENDER,  117 

own  Shoemaker") ;  "  300  tobacco  pipes,"  with- 
out instruction  ;  "  100  hands  of  tobacco,"  Lan- 
caster County  best ;  "  30  combs,"  *  which  were 
used  by  the  gentle  savages  as  implements  of  tor- 
ture on  their  unhappy  prisoners  of  war ;  "  i 
barrel  of  beer ;"  f  "  20  hoes"  for  the  women ; 
"  loo  Jews-harps," — just  paint  in  your  mind  the 
astonishing  spectacle  of  one  hundred  sons  of  the 
forest,  sitting  on  a  stake-and-rider  fence, "their 
faces  drawn  into  contortions  of  ecstasy,  their 
teeth  firmly  set  on  the  jaws  of  the  loud-sounding 
Jews-harps,  their  right  hands  swinging  with  the 
rhythm  of  an  orchestral  movement,  pelting  the 
lambient  air  with  the  melting  strains  of  "  Camp- 
town  Races,"  better  known  in  their  own  soft 
dialect  as  "doo-dah."  Truly,  William  Penn's 
head  was  not  hilly  when  he  put  in  those  Jews- 
harps.  ("  Music  hath  charms  to  soothe  a  sav- 
age," he  said,  and  so  we  put  a  brass  band  around 
the  bulldog's  neck,  i  There  were,  furthermore, 
"  100  strings  of  beads"  and  "  30  wooden  screw- 
boxes  ;"  \  a  "  skipple  of  salt;"  §  "  40  pairs  of  stock- 
ings," which  the  proud  savages  wore  for  gloves  ; 

*  !  !  !  f  For  three  tribes  of  Indians!  \  ? 

§  A  skipple  was  twice  as  much  as  a  boodle,  and  two  bongles 
made  a  boodle.     A  skipple  of  salt  was  therefore  half  a  dingle. 


1 1 8  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

"  20  tobacco  tongs,"  the  finiky  Indians  having 
the  most  intense  dislike  to  handling  tobacco 
with  their  fingers. 

In  addition  to  the  articles  above  specified, 
there  were  blankets,  kettles,  powder,  flints, 
steels,  red  lead,  tobacco-boxes,  gimlets,  molasses, 
(five  gallons  !),  needles,  wampum,  and  "  30  pairs 
of  scissors."  No  mention  is  made  of  rocking- 
chairs,  glove-stretchers,  or  shoe-buttoners,  and  it 
is  probable  that  the  poor  savages  of  Penn's  time 
were  compelled  to  drag  out  a  lingering  existence, 
uncheered  by  the  presence  of  these  common 
necessities  of  life. 

Sachem  Taminend,  Tamanen,  or  Taminent,  as 
the  case  may  be,  made  a  brief  address  at  the 
close  of  the  treaty,  which  was  marked  with  the 
beautiful  imagery  and  natural  thrilling  eloquence 
that  are  so  characteristic  of  Indian  oratory. 
He  assured  Penn  that  he  was  a  very  large  Indi- 
an. "  I  am,"  he  said,  pumping  his  right  arm 
up  and  down  like  a  walking-beam, — an  effec- 
tive and  graceful  gesture  taught  him  by  a  mem- 
ber of  the  British  Parliament, — "  I  am  half  hoss 
and  half  alligator  ;  I  am  a  raging  volcano  of 
wrath  when  anybody  pulls  my  hair,  and  I  will 
strike  the  side  of  a  mountain  if  the  soup  is 


jEt.  38.]  INDIA .V  FIDELITY.  1 1 9 

burned.  I  am  a  bad  Indian,  and  I  carry  a  gun. 
I  hunt  in  the  mountains,  stranger ;  I  sleep  on 
the  prairie ;  I  eat  raw  buffalo,  and  I  drink  out 
of  the  Mississippi.  VVagh  !" 

And  the  famous  treaty  was  consummated — 
so  famous,  so  much  written  about,  so  little 
known;  unrecorded  and  undying:  imposing 
with  the  grandeur  of  simplicity  ;  kingly  in  the 
majesty  of  pure  manhood  ;  glorious  in  the  white 
raiment  of  practical  Christianity  ;  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  embodied  in  the  Quaker's  treaty. 
There  needs  no  record  of  its  details  to  make  it 
live  in  history.  The  simple  fact  that  the  treaty 
was  made,  the  plain,  Quaker-like  truth,  una- 
dorned by  flowers  of  rhetoric  or  clinging  ten- 
drils of  speech,  is  enough  to  hand  down  to  all 
posterity  the  beautiful  story  of "  the  only  treaty," 
says  Voltaire,  "  made  without  an  oath  and  never 
broken." 

It  has  been  the  proud  boast  of  the  followers  of 
William  Penn,  and  the  fact  is  even  recorded  by 
Bancroft,  that  "  no  drop  of  Quaker  blood  was 
ever  shed  by  an  Indian  in  Pennsylvania."  Ah, 
if  only  some  red-skinned  Bancroft,  painting  in 
weird  hieroglyphs,  in  brilliant  coloring  and 


120  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

doubtful  perspective,  on  the  buckskin  walls  of 
his  smoky  tepee  the  history  of  this  treaty  for  his 
race,  could  but  say  so  much  for  tha  fidelity  of 
the  white  man  !  Alas !  forty  years  after  pale- 
face and  red-skin  declared  "  their  friendship 
should  endure  while  waters  ran  down  the 
rivers  and  the  sun  and  stars  endured,"  an  un- 
worthy follower  of  Penn  murdered  the  first  In- 
dian slain  in  Pennsylvania,  and  even  then,  faith- 
ful to  their  pledge  given  at  that  treaty,  the 
Indians  interceded  for  the  murderer,  and  begged 
that,  as  he  was  a  child  of  Onas,  his  life  might 
be  spared.  The  Indians  have  got  over  that 
feeling  now,  and  so  oft  as  opportunity  presents 
they  lift  the  hair  of  their  white  brother  without 
any  investigation  into  his  standing  in  the  relig- 
ious community.  In  fact,  the  Indian  of  to-day 
rather  prefers  fighting  a  man  who  won't  fight 
back. 

The  great  elm-tree  at  Kensington  stood  until 
1810,  when  it  was  blown  down,  having  lived  to 
see  the  treaty  which  made  it  famous  broken  into 
as  many  fragments  as  there  were  white  men  in 
Pennsylvania.  It  lived  through  the  years  of 
bloodshed  and  murder  that  rolled  up  and  down 
the  beautiful  valley  of  Wyoming ;  it  lived  to  see 


JEt.  38.]  STRICKEN  IN    YEARS.  121 

the  scalping-knife  and  tomahawk  of  the  Indian 
allies  of  his  most  gracious  and  Christian  majesty 
George  III.,  defender  of  the  faith,  make  life  a 
burden  to  the  Pennsylvanian,  and  then  relieve 
him  of  the  burden  ;  it  lived  to  see  William  Penn 
wronged,  swindled,  and  almost  beggared  by  his 
pretended  friend,  his  trusted  secretary,  a  Friend 
of  his  own  faith ;  it  lived  to  see  the  great  Quaker 
cast  into  prison  in  his  old  age  ;  it  lived  to  see  his 
son  disgrace  the  name  of  his  honored  father  and 
die  a  victim  of  his  own  excesses  and  wickedness, 
and  it  had  seen  enough.  It  was  283  years  old, 
24  feet  in  girth,  and  its  main  branch  was  1 50  feet 
long.  During  the  British  occupation  of  Phila- 
delphia, in  the  Revolutionary  war,  this  tree  was 
still  held  in  such  reverence  that  the  English 
General  Simcoe  placed  a  guard  about  it,  to  pro- 
tect it  from  parties  of  soldiers  sent  out  after 
fire- wood. 

When  the  old  tree  fell,  it  was  utilized  after 
the  American  fashion.  A  few  cords  of  it 
were  sent  to  the  Penn  family  in  England ;  an 
arm-chair  was  made  from  it  and  placed  in  the 
Commissioners' Hall  in  Kensington.  Hundreds 
of  thousands  of  work-stands,  vases,  paper- 
weights, knife-handles,  paper-cutters,  etc.,  were 


122  WILLIAM  PENN. 

made  from  the  remainder  of  it.  During  the 
Centennial  Exposition  in  Philadelphia  in  1876, 
a  new  impetus  was  given  to  the  manufacture  of 
the  great  elm  relics,  and  several  planing-miils 
had  all  they  could  do  to  supply  the  demand. 
Probably  there  never  was  a  tree  so  remarkable 
for  its  versatility.  yPir^tty  and  useful  articles  of 
pine,  maple,  walnut,  oak,  ash,  and  cherry  were 
made  from  the  great  elm  and  sold  at  remunera- 
tive prices  to  the  reverential  tourists  from  all 
parts  of  the  great  republic.  It  is  estimated  by 
the  careful  statistician  who  compiled  the  facts 
for  this  work  that  not  less  than  six  cords  of 
hickory  walking-sticks,  with  the  bark  on,  were 
made  from  the  great  elm  and  sold  to  Centennial 
pilgrims  from  the  city.  All  the  ground  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  Treaty  Monument  is 
now  occupied  by  extensive  lumber-yards,  which 
appear  to  be  stocking  up  with  a  great  variety 
of  seasoned  hard  wood. 

The  site  of  tlje  "great  elm"  is  not  unmarked. 
Ah  no !  The  people  of  Pennsylvania  feel  for 
that  treaty  and  the  site  that  it  made  immortal  a 
profound  and  lasting  reverence.  In  1849  the 
legislature  of  Pennsylvania  appropriated  $5000 
for  the  purchase  of  the  treaty  ground. 


JEt.  38.]  A    GRACEFUL  SHAFT.  12$ 

To-day,  on  Beach  Street,  Kensington,  a  three- 
cornered  patch  of  ground,  of  the  general  shape 
of  a  piece  of  pie,  and  about  the  size  of  an  army 
blanket,  is  notched  out  of  the  lumber-yards 
above  mentioned.  Two  sides  of  this  plat  are 
shielded  by  a  high,  rough  board  fence,  placed 
there  to  protect,  not  the  monument,  but  the 
lumber-yard.  The  monument  is  of  granite.  It 
towers  up  to  the  height  of  a  short  man.  It 
bears  the  inscription  on  one  face,  "Treaty 
ground  of  William  Penn  and  the  Indian  nation. 
1682.  Unbroken  faith."  On  another:  "Penn- 
sylvania, Founded  1682.  By  deeds  of  peace." 
It  bears  various  other  inscriptions.  The  youth 
of  Kensington  use  it  for  a  target  when  they 
have  their  brickbat  practice.  The  reverential 
tourist  has  scribbled  his  obscure  name  all  over 
it  in  fading  pencil-marks.  The  more  patient 
tramp  has  scratched  his  ubiquitous  real  or  stage 
name  on  it  with  rusty  nails.  Some  humble 
artist,  on  his  way  to  paint  the  householder's 
window-shutters,  has  smeared  a  streak  of  green 
paint  across  the  top  of  the  graceful  shaft.  No 
stranger  can  find  it  alone,  for  the  ways  of  mod- 
ern Philadelphia  are  not  of  the  original  rectan- 
gular design,  and  the  man  who  seeks  to  find  the 


124  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1682. 

Treaty  Monument  alone  is  lost.  The  citizens 
will  not  aid  him.  To  their  undying  honor  be 
it  recorded,  they  try  to  lose  him,  so  that  he  may 
never  find  it.  But  before  another  year  rolls 
round,  as  other  years  are  in  the  habit  of  doing, 
a  nobler  shaft  will  mark  this  historic  spot. 

After  the  treaty,  Penn  went  for  a  few  days  to 
his  country-house  in  "  Pennsbury,"  on  the  Dela- 
ware, opposite  Burlington.  It  was  a  very  com- 
fortable hovel  for  a  man  of  quiet  tastes,  and 
cost,  with  the  grounds,  between  seven  and  ten 
thousand  pounds,  for  the  Governor  was  not  the 
man  to  throw  away  a  lot  of  money  on  a  fine 
house.  )  "  Any  sort  of  hut,"  he  said,  "  is  good 
enough  for  me."  It  was  built  on  an  island,  "  a 
treble  island,"  says  one  biographer/"  the  Dela- 
ware running  around  it  three  times.  /  (When  a 
river  gets  around  the  same  place  three  times, 
you  may  safely  set  that  place  down  for  an 
island,  whether  the  book  says  so  or  not.*  ) 

About  this  time,  also,  the  first  child  of  English 
parents  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  Penn 
gave  the  infant,  whose  name  was  John  Key,  a 

*  The  branch  of  the  river  that  used  to  "run  around  Penns- 
bury three  times"  doesn't  run  around  it  at  all  now.  It  is 
dried  up. 


JEt.  38.]    THE  FIRST-BORN  PHILADELPHIAN.      12$ 

tract  of  land.  There  had  been  plenty  of  Dutch 
and  Swede  children  born  before  this,  but  they 
didn't  count.  This  act  of  marked  partiality,  if 
it  was  intended  to  discourage  the  birth  of  chil- 
dren of  other  nationalities,  and  throw  the  man- 
tle of  a  high  protective  tariff  about  new  English 
children,  failed  in  its  purpose.  Dutch  children 
continued  to  be  born  with  great  regularity  and 
frequency,  unstimulated  by  the  hope  of  any 
farm,  until  at  length  they  owned  and  farmed 
about  three  fifths  of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  held  the  other  two  fifths  on  long  lease.  In 
1755  this  first  native-born  Philadelphian,  "  First- 
born '  Key,  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Hospital. 

In  March,  1683,  the  Governor  met  the  As- 
sembly and  Provincial  Council  in  Philadelphia. 
Having  a  great  deal  more  important  business 
to  attend  to,  the  Assembly,  with  the  natural  in- 
stinct of  a  legislative  body,  began  to  tinker  with 
the  Constitution  and  Charter.  It  was  all  well 
enough,  but  they  wanted  to  change  it,  for  no 
man  ever  yet  went  to  the  legislature  who  did 
not  want  to  change  all  the  laws  any  other  men 
had  made,  before  he  attended  to  any  pressing 
business.  The  Assembly  wanted  a  new  charter, 


126  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

and  Penn  did  not  stand  in  the  way  of  their  de- 
sires. A  joint  committee  of  the  Provincial 
Council  and  the  Assembly  drew  up  the  new 
charter,  in  which  the  Assembly  gave  to  itself 
whatever  power  it  wanted,  and  generously  in- 
vested the  Governor  and  Provincial  Council 
with  the  rest.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
tinkering  with  Penn's  Constitution,  and  it  has 
been  kept  up  until  to-day  there  is  not  one  of 
Penn's  original  sixty-one  laws  on  the  statute- 
books  of  the  state  he  founded. 

The  Assembly  of  1683,  among  other  things, 
voted  an  impost  on  certain  goods  exported  or 
imported,  for  the  Governor's  support,  which 
Penn  refused  to  accept.  He  was  the  first  great 
Pennsylvania  free-trader ;  *  he  would  let  them 
impost  him  no  imposts,  and  for  years,  it  is  said, 
the  tax-gatherer  slowly  starved  to  death  in 
Pennsylvania. 

After  a  harmonious  session  of  three  weeks — 
(harmonious  because  the  Assembly  wanted  every- 
thing and  Penn  wanted  nothing^— this  body 
collected  its  per  diem,  exaggerated  its  mileage, 
andjf charging  by  the  longest  way,  went  home 
by  the  shortest.) 

*  And  last. 


JEt.  39.]          THE   CITY  OF  HIS  HEART.  12J 

Perm  was  a  Governor  without  personal  ambi- 
tion. He  saw,  and  without  a  regret,  the  legis- 
lature of  his  own  creation  deprive  him  of  his 
rightful  and  reasonable  political  powers  until 
he  couldn't  so  much  as  appoint  a  janitor  or  a 
policeman.  "  I  propose,"  he  said,  "  to  leave 
myself  and  my  successors  no  power  of  doing 
mischief,  that  the  will  of  one  man  may  not 
hinder  the  good  of  a  whole  country."  His  very 
life  was  wrapped  up  in  the  city  and  colony  he 
had  founded,  and  when,  during  this  same  year, 
important  matters  called  him  back  to  England, 
he  left  his  great  loving  heart  in  Pennsylvania — 
"And  thou,  Philadelphia,"  he  writes  on  ship- 
board,  "the  virgin  settlement  of  this  province, 
named  before  thou  wast  born,  what  love,  what 
care,  what  service,  and  what  travail  hath  there 
been  to  bring  thee  forth  and  preserve  thee  from 
such  as  would  abuse  and  defile  thee  !  My  soul 
prays  to  God  for  thee,  that  thou  mayest  stand 
in  the  day  of  trial,  that  thy  children  may  be 
blessed  of  the  Lord,  and  thy  people  saved  by 
his  power." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  GO-AS-YOU-PLEASE  WALK. 

TT  was  about  time  to  buy  more  land,  or  rather 
•*•  to  buy  over  again  some  that  had  already 
been  bought  and  paid  for.  There  is  a  deed 
dated  June  23,  1683,  by  which,  for  the  consider- 
ation of  a  certain  amount  of  money  and  junk  to 
them  in  hand  paid,  Tamanen  and  Metamequan 
parties  of  the  first  part,  conveyed  to  William 
Penn,  party  of  the  second  part,  all  their  land 
between  Neshaminy  Creek  and  Pennypack,  and 
another,  dated  July  14,  in  the  same  year,  con- 
veys to  William  Penn  certain  lands  extending 
from  the  Chester  to  the  Schuylkill  River,  and 
as  far  back  as  a  man  could  walk  in  three  days. 

The  true  story  of  the  measurement  of  this 
land  is  a  little  mixed,  but  it  is  certain  beyond 
all  doubt  or  debate  or  dispute  that  the  red 
brothers  got  caught  on  a  falling  market,  and 
were  most  dreadfully  left  on  the  deal.  "  Tra- 
dition" steps  in  to  protect  William  Penn  from 


jEt.  39.]       LEISURELY  MEASUREMENTS.  I2g 

any  obloquy  in  the  matter,  and  relates  how 
the  Governor  himself,  with  several  of  his  friends 
and  a  number  of  Indian  chiefs,  "  began  to  walk 
out  this  land  at  the  mouth  of  the  Neshaminy, 
and  walked  up  the  Delaware,"  it  being  the  cus- 
tom, doubtless,  for  "  a  man"  to  go  in  a  crowd 
when  he  was  going  to  walk  out  all  the  land  he 
could  cover  in  72  hours.  Moreover,  "  it  is  said," 
by  this  same  trustworthy  Tradition,  that  "  they 
walked  leisurely,*  after  the  Indian  manner,f 
sitting  down  sometimes  to  smoke  their  pipes, 
to  eat  biscuit  and  cheese,  and  drink  a  bottle  of 
wine."  There  is  a  general  air  of  truthful  sim- 
plicity about  this  traditionary  narrative  that  at 
once  challenges  the  belief  of  the  most  credulous. 
And  "it  is  certain,"  Tradition  resumes,  "that 
they  arrived  at  a  spruce-tree  near  the  mouth  of 
Baker's  Creek  in  a  day  and  a  half,  the  whole 
distance  being  less  than  30  miles." 

That  certainly  was  not  a  very  large  walk  for 
a  day  and  a  half,  and  the  "  leisurely"  Indians 
in  the  crowd  were,  up  to  this  point,  quite  well 


*  Which  sounds  extremely  reasonable.  Part  of  the  time,  it 
may  be,  they  walked  backward. 

f  It  depends  a  great  deal  on  what  or  whom  the  Indian  is 
walking  after  how  "  leisurely"  he  walks. 


130  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

satisfied  with  their  bargain.  It  may  be,  indeed, 
that  on  an  occasion  of  this  kind  the  Indians  did 
walk  in  a  "leisurely  manner,"  and  no  doubt 
they  felt  the  unconquerable  and  terrible  long- 
ings of  the  destroying  "  biscuit-and-cheese" 
habit,  to  which  they  seem  to  have  been  ad- 
dicted, at  every  mile.  There  was  a  great 
temptation  in  that  walk  to  make  the  Indians 

n 

"leisurely."  When  they  reached  the  spruce- 
tree  at  Baker's  Creek,  William  Penn  said  that 
would  include  about  as  much  land  as  he  wanted 
just  then,  so  "  they  run  the  line  from  that  point 
to  Neshaminy,  and  the  remainder  was  left  to  be 
walked  out  when  it  should  be  wanted  for  settle- 
ment." 

So  far  tradition  clears  the  skirts  of  William 
Penn  of  any  attempt  to  overreach  the  red 
brothers.  And  tradition  is  strongly  supported 
by  the  whole  life  and  character  of  the  Quaker, 
who  lived  from  boyhood  to  old  age  like  a  man 
with  a  soul  above  deceit  or  trickery. 

But  on  the  2oth  of  September,  1733,  we  get 
out  of  the  realm  of  tradition  and  come  into  the 
record.  On  this  day  the  remainder  of  the  line, 
as  provided  and  described  in  that  deed,  was 
walked  out,  fifteen  years  after  Penn  had  passed 


JEt.  39.]        THE    USUAL  PREPARATIONS,  131 

away  from  all  this  care  and  trouble  and  bicker- 
ing, to  the  reward  of  the  righteous  man.  It 
was  another  impressive  scene,  the  completion 
of  this  old  transaction,  the  measuring  of  the 
land  deeded  to  the  man  now  sleeping  in  the 
Friends'  burying-ground  in  the  far-away  English 
meadows.  The  Indians  were  on  hand  again 
with  the  usual  rations  of  biscuit  and  cheese, 
which  should  mark  the  numerous  halts  for 
lunch.  They  had  their  pipes  and  plenty  of 
tobacco  with  them,  indicating  how  pleasant 
and  "leisurely"  would  be  the  stroll,  "after  the 
Indian  manner."  It  doesn't  appear,  by  the  rec- 
ord, that  there  were  any  bottles  of  wine  to 
drink,  as  in  the  good  old  days  of  Onas,  but 
that  was  because  the  Indians  were  more  civil- 
ized, and  had  become,  enlightened  by  contact 
with  the  white  men.*  The  Governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania was  not  there,  but  he  sent  a  hand.  He 
said  he  wasn't  much  of  a  pedestrian  himself, 
but  he  sent  three  men  that  he  would  back  for 
the  Astley  belt  and  all  the  gate-money  against 
any  human  being  that  ever  ambled  over  the 
tan-bark.  When  these  three  men — Edward 

*  That  is,  they  hadd  learned  to  carry  each  mann  his  private 
flaske  in  his  breaste  pocquet. 


132  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

Marshall,  James  Yeates,  and  Solomon  Jennings 
— put  on  spiked  shoes,  and  began  to  remove  the 
greater  portion  of  their  garments,  one  of  the 
Indians  begged  to  remind  the  honorable  gen- 
tlemen that  they  were  going  to  take  a  walk, 
not  a  bath. 

"  Did  you  think  of  accompanying  this  over- 
land surveying  expedition?"  asked  Edward 
Marshall,  in  behalf  of  the  Pennsylvania  com- 
missioners. 

To  which  the  Indian  chieftain  proudly  re- 
plied that  he  contemplated  keeping  up  with 
the  procession,  if  he  broke  a  trace. 

"Then,"  said  Edward  Marshall,  tightening 
his  belt  and  gripping  a  corn-cob  in  each  hand, 
"  throw  away  your  blanket  and  climb  on  your 
pony,  and  if  I  happen  to  fall  asleep  this  side 
of  the  Ohio  River,  just  wake  me  up  and  tell 
me  of  it,  will  you?") 

The  walk  began  at  a  chestnut-tree  below 
Wrightstown.  The  men  tramped  gayly  away, 
until  they  reached  where  Solomon  Jennings 
said  he  felt  aweary  and  lay  down  in  the  cool 
shade  to  rest.  He  rested  well  enough ;  but 
when  he  tried  to  get  up,  to  his  amazement 
there  wasn't  a  solitary  joint  in  his  body,  from 


,£t.  39.]-  WALKING  FOR  KEEPS.  133 

his  neck  to  his  heels.  So  he  was  off  the  tan- 
bark,  and  got  more  rheumatism  than  glory  for 
his  walk.  James  Yeates  kept  along  with  a  per- 
severing gait  until  they  reached  the  foot  of 
Blue  Mountain,  when  he  was  taken  sick  while 
crossing  a  stream,  and  Edward  Marshall  had  to 
help  him  back. 

"  Now,"  said  Edward,  "  I  believe  I  will  finish 
this  walk  and  take  first  money  myself." 

And  then  that  man  set  out  to  walk.  And  he 
did  walk.  "  There  is  no  funny  business  about 
this  match,"  he  said,  and  his  panting  red  broth- 
ers began  to  believe  it.  Three  white  men 
started  in  for  the  walk,  but  after  the  first  four 
laps  it  was  evident  that  Edward  Marshall  pos- 
sessed not  only  speed  but  staying  powers,  and 
he  was  the  favorite  with  everybody  except  the 
Indians.  When  the  "  leisurely"  savages  sug- 
gested that  it  was  about  time  to  drink  a  bottle 
of  wine,  he  said  his  trainer  wouldn't  let  him 
touch  it.  But  he  intimated  that  he  would  drink 
a  cup  of  beef-tea  as  he  walked,  if  they  would 
bring  it  him. 

When  the  time  came  at  which  William  Penn 
would  have  halted  to  eat  the  "  biscuit  and 
cheese"  which  cheers  but  does  not  inebriate 


134  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

or  excite  any  great  enthusiasm  for  walking, 
Edward  Marshall  said  he  had  breakfasted  on 
some  lean  mutton-chops,  strong  green  tea,  arid 
calves'-foot  jelly,  and  felt  as  though  he  could 
walk  four  hundred  miles  without  a  lunch.  And 
when  the  Indians  suggested  pipes,  the  pedes- 
trians all  declared  they  wouldn't  walk  another 
step  if  any  smoking  was  allowed  in  the  gar- 
den. 

So  on  they  went,  and  Edward  Marshall  piled 
up  the  miles  and  tossed  the  broad  acres  over  his 
shoulders  like  a  man  who  is  walking  for  first 
money.  When  he  felt  a  little  tired  and  the  In- 
dians urged  him  to  take  a  little  rest,  expressing 
great  concern  lest  he  should  break  down  and 
be  unable  to  come  iii  with  the  crowd  at  the 
finish,  he  merely  fell  into  a  regular  heel-and- 
toe  walk,  and  said  that  was  the  way  he 
always  walked  when  he  went  to  sleep.  Then 
when  he  woke  up  he  would  lengthen  his  stride 
and  set  the  milestones  down  behind  him  in  a 
reckless  way  that  kept  the  scorer  busy  and 
made  the  Indians  feel  that  walking  had  degen- 
erated from  a  pure,  health-giving  exercise  into 
a  trade  of  the  gamblers,  fit  to  rank  with  base- 
ball and  the  agricultural  horse-trot  of  the  county 


Mt.  39.]       CLEANED   OUT  OF   THE  POOL.  135 

fair.  At  the  close  of  the  day  and  a  half,  Edward 
Marshall  passed  the  judges'  stand  at  a  seven- 
mile  gate,  and  the  scorer  marked  up  86  miles  on 
the  board. 

And  the  maddest  crowd  of  Indians  you  ever 
saw  came,  up  to  look  at  the  score.  They  de- 
nounced the  whole  scheme  as  a  swindle,  de- 
clared they  wouldn't  pay  any  side  bets,  and  said 
it  was  no  way  to  walk  anyhow,  and  no  one  but 
a  white  man  would  be  guilty  of  walking  that 
distance  in  a  day  and  a  half.*  They  admitted 
that  the  man  walked ;  he  did  not  run,  and  he 
did  not  ride,  he  walked,  fair  and  square,  but  he 
walked  too  fast  and  too  far.  Any  one  who  has 
ever  noted  the  patient  endurance  with  which  an 
Indian  at  Niagara  Falls  can  sit  still  on  the  curb- 
stone fourteen  hours  a  day,  will  readily  under- 
stand the  amazement  and  wrath  of  the  "  leisure- 
ly" Indians  at  Edward  Marshall's  extravagant 
restlessness. 

The  Governor  pacified  the  Indians  of  1733  by 
presents  of  rum  and  molasses  and  pie  and  other 

*They  were  only  silenced  when,  on    demanding   that  the     \ 
ground  should  be  walked  over  again,   the  Governor  showed 
them  Rowell's  record  of    150  miles  in  24  hours  at  Madison 
Square   Garden,    New  York,    and  said  the   next   walking  for    j 
ground  he  did,  Rowell  was  to  walk  for  him. 


WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

intemperate  beverages,  but  held  on  to  the  86 
miles  of  land  all  the  same.*  As  for  Edward 
Marshall,  he  said,  when  quite  an  old  man,  that 
he  never  got  anything  for  this  walk  except  a 
promise,  a  coin  largely  issued  and  circulated  by 
Governors. 

But  the  first  half  of  this  walk,  where  Penn 
strolled  over  the  ground  with  the  tranquil  haste 
of  a  boy  sent  on  an  errand  in  a  hurry,  was  free 
from  heart-burnings.  )  It  is  related,  indeed,  that 
Tamanen  gave  a  dinner  on  the  occasion,  at 
which  he  (feasted  Penn  on  appie  -  dumplings, 
which  was  the  only  attempt  ever  made  on  Penn's 
life  by  the  Indians.  )  The  Governor  was  a  strong 
man,  however,  and  the  would-be  assassin  failed 
in  his  dastardly  purpose.  Penn  suffered  from 
a  terrible  nightmare  that  night.  He  dreamed 
that  he  was  on  his  way  back  to  England,  sail- 
ing across  the  Atlantic  in  his  hat,  with  a  party 
of  friends,  when  they  were  attacked  by  a  pirate 
hat,  a  three-decker  of  vast  dimensions,  which 
sunk  his  hat  and  all  on  board.  And  while  he 
was  trying  to  remember  whether  his  hat  was 

*It  is  said  the  first  murder  of  a  white  man  by  an  Indian  in 
Pennsylvania  took  place  on  this  ground,  21  years  after  it  was 
stepped  off  by  Marshall. 


&t  39)  AN  ANCIENT  FINANCIER.  137 

insured,  he  woke  in  an  agony  of  fear  that  it  was, 
and  it  would  therefore  cost  his  widow  five  times 
the  amount  of  the  insurance  to  collect  half  of  it. 
But  beyond  this  one  fearful  night,  he  suffered 
no  evil  from  the  boiled  dumplings,  and  affirmed 
off  from  the  habit  the  next  day,  fearing  it  might 
grow  upon  him.* 

During  this  year  the  colony  made  rapid  strides 
toward  an  old  and  cultured  civilization.  Charles 
Pickering  was  indicted  by  the  grand  jury  for 
coining  "Spanish  bitts  and  Boston  money." 
The  trouble  with  Pickering's  money  was  that 
it  was  too  big  for  its  size,f  and  contained  more 
copper  than  silver.  Pickering  was  sentenced 
to  redeem,  at  face  value,  all  his  light  money, 
which  was  immediately  called  in  by  proclama- 
tion, and  pay  a  fine  of  £40  toward  the  building 
of  the  new  court-house,  to  be  committed  to  jail 
until  it  was  paid,  and  give  bonds  for  his  good 
behavior4 

*  It  is  said  the  Indians  taught  the  white  men  to  eat  boiled 
apple-dumplings,  in  revenge  for  the  introduction  of  rum  and 
croquet  into  this  country  by  the  pale-faces. 

f  This  was  the  original  Q2-cent  dollar,  afterward  very  popular 
among  the  more  barbarous  tribes  of  the  United  States. 

$  Some  of  Pickering's  descendants  are  still  living  in  Phila- 
delphia, but  they  are  not  given  to  boring  company  with  anec- 
dotes about  "  When  grandpa  went  to  see  William  Penn." 


138  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

There  the  Provincial  Council  sat  in  its  first 
trial  for  witchcraft.  In  those  good  old  times 
a  colony  without  a  witch  would  have  been  a 
rare  novelty.  The  best  families  in  Boston  kept 
their  own  private  witches,  the  best  scholarship 
of  Massachusetts  accepted  them  ;  Cotton  Mather 
hunted  more  witches  than  he  preached  sermons, 
and  after  a  woman  reached  the  age  of  seventy 
and  lost  her  teeth,  her  life  was  safer  among  the 
pirates  of  Penzance  than  it  was  in  Salem. ,  Not 
alone  the  Puritans,  who  at  this  time  made  a  be- 
lief in  witchcraft  a  part  of  their  religion,  but 
learned  divines  of  other  denominations,  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic,  not  only  believed  in 
witches,  but  published  pamphlets  declaring 
their  belief,  that  we  of  to-day  might  know  that 
our  good'  old  fathers  were  no  better  than  they 
ought  to  be,  and  didn't  know  a  line  more  than 
the  law  allowed  them.  Richard  Baxter  in  Eng- 
land believed  just  as  Cotton  Mather  did  in  Mas- 
sachusetts ;  and  George  Fox,  the  first  Quaker 
and  founder  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  not  only 
believed  in  witches,  but  believed  that  he  had 
the  power  to  subdue  them.  Those  were  glo- 
rious old  times,  the  good  old  times  of  our 
ancestors,  when  they  boiled  men  alive  in  Ger- 


^t.  39.]  '  THE   GOOD   OLD    TIMES.  139 

many  and  England  for  making  counterfeit 
money  ;  and  they  boiled  them  slowly,  by  a  re- 
finement of  cruelty,  letting  the  man  down  into 
the  seething  caldron  feet  first,  so  that  he  might 
enjoy  it  himself  and  feel  good,  when  his  feet  got 
warm. }  When  in  Scotland  they  burned  an  old 
woman  and  her  child  at  the  stake  for  creating 
a  storm  of  thunder  and  lightning  simply  by 
pulling  off  their  stockings.*  When  in  our  own 
favored  land  the  zealous  colonists  jabbed  an  awl 
through  a  man's  ears  if  he  was  a  Quaker,  and 
hanged  him  if  he  didn't  quit  it.  When  they  slit 
a  man's  tongue  if  he  was  a  Presbyterian,  and 
pulled  it  clear  out  by  the  roots  if  he  was  a 
Methodist.  And  they  tried  to  drown  him  if  he 
was  a  Baptist !  It  wasn't  really  safe  for  him  to 
be  anything,  because,  no  matter  what  he  was, 
somebody  could  prove  that  he  was  a  heretic, 
and  burn  him  alive  and  take  his  farm.  These 
"  good  old  times,"  when  a  steamboat  was  a 
mud-scow,  with  a  mainsail  as  big  as  a  circus- 
tent,  and  a  bar  every  fifteen  feet  in  the  river,  f 
When  a  man  went  to  bed  at  dusk,  and  got  up 

*In  our   more  Christian  civilization  to-day  you  can't  shoot 
a  man  even  when  he  pulls  off  his  boots  in  a  sleeping-car, 
t  And  none  on  the  boat. 


140  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

in  the  night  to  eat  breakfast,  and  struggled  with 
the  kitchen  fire  an  hour  and  a  half  with  a  piece 
of  cold,  sullen,  fireless  flint  and  a  wet  tinder- 
box.*  When  fashion  compelled  even  a  bow- 
legged  man  to  wear  tights  and  knee-breeches. 
And  the  poor  wretch  had  to  wander  about 
through  life  and  in  society,  \  looking  like  a 
pair  of  parentheses  with  clothes  on.N  And 
/every  time  a  girl  danced  with  such  a  man, 
she  felt  as  though  she  was  waltzing  in  brack- 
ets. }  When  a  young  man,  if  he  went  up  Sun- 
day night  to  see  his  sweetheart,  as  the  cus- 
tom was  in  the  good  old  times,  f  had  to 
sit  the  whole  long  evening  through,  over  on 
one  side  of  the  room,  between  the  girl's 
father  and  mother,  while  the  girl  sat  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  room,  beside  the  parson, 
who  tenderly  held  one  of  her  hands  in  both 
his  own,  to  amuse  the  young  man,  while  he 
earnestly  warned  her  against  all  earthly  vanities 
in  general,  and  that  young  man  in  particular. 

In  such  good  old  times  as  these,  Pennsylvania 
could  not  hope  to  get  along  without  at  least  one 
case  of  witchcraft.  But  the  Pennsylvania  witch 

*  Now  we  start  the  kitchen  fire  and  the  kitchen  roof  in  one 
time  and  two  motions  with  a  simple  tilt  of  the  kerosene-can, 
f  A  custom  that  has  since  become  entirely  obsolete. 


JEt.  39.]  VERY   TAME   WITCHES.  14! 

was  a  very  tame  affair.*  She  was  a  Swedish 
witch.  Her  name  was  Margaret  Mattson. 
There  was  another  witch,  tried  at  the  same 
time,  but  as  this  witch's  name  is  handed  down 
as  the  astonishing  compilation  of  Yeshro  Hen- 
drickson,  its  sex  is  to  be  guessed  at.  Margaret 
was  accused  of  having  bewitched  several  cows 
some  twenty  years  prior  to  the  date  of  her 
trial.  One  witness  was  called  to  prove  this, 
and  he  testified  that  somebody  told  him  so. 
Then  he  stepped  down,  and  a  female  being, 
groaning  through  this  vale  of  tears  with  the 
awful  name  of  Annaky  Coolin,  testified  that 
Margaret  was  guilty  of  high  treason,  felony, 
contributory  negligence,  and  blasphemy,  be- 
cause when  Annaky's  husband  was  boiling  the 
heart  of  a  calf  that  had  died  by  witchcraft,  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar  came  along,  and  learning 
that  they  were  "  boiling  of  flesh,  she  said  they 
had  better  they  had  boiled  of  the  bones,  with 
several  other  unseemly  expressions." 

Nevertheless,  in  the  face  of  this  damning  evi- 
dence,  which    in    Massachusetts    would    have 

*At  that  time.  There  are  witches  in  Pennsylvania  now, 
but  they  are  more  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  heart  than  was 
this  one.  They  have  brown  eyes  and  dimples,  and  are  rated  by 
the  insurance  companies  as  "extra  hazardous"  when  under  the 
age  of  twenty-four. 


142  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

hanged  her  in  a  minute,  the  Pennsylvania  jury 
merely  found  her  "  guilty  of  the  common  fame 
of  being  a  witch,  but  not  guilty  in  manner  and 
form  as  she  stands  indicted."  The  witch  was 
not  punished ;  she  was  merely  placed  under 
bonds  to  keep  the  peace,  and  turned  loose  to 
torment  the  kine  of  Knud  ChristomTerssson 
and  Niels  Nieddderssenn  by  her  dreadful  arts. 
That  was  the  first  and  (with  the  exception 
noted  on  p.  141)  only  witch  in  Pennsylvania. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Penn's  charge  to  the 
jury  in  this  case  is  not  on  record.  It  would  be 
interesting  to  know  just  what  he  thought  of 
witches  at  a  time  when  so  many  leading  minds 
believed  in  them.  But  no  doubt  he  thought 
with  his  usual  good  sense,  and  was  as  much 
ahead  of  his  times  as  some  of  his  colleagues 
were  behind  them.  William  Penn  was  a  shrewd 
observer  and  a  man  of  broad  experience  in 
courts  and  prisons,  and  he  doubtless  knew  that 
in  a  case  of  witchcraft  the  major  part  of  the 
meanness,  ignorance,  and  malice  was  repre- 
sented by  the  prosecution.  In  those  days 
men's  passions  were  very  strong.  But  then 
their  morals  were  very  weak,  so  they  could 
mix  them  and  make  a  very  good  average. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  LAND  OF  CORN  AND  WINE. 

''PHIS  year,,  among  other  things  the  busy 
•*•  little  Legislature  did,  they  ordered  that 
an  anchor  be  the  seal  of  Philadelphia.  Absent 
members  of  the  house  were  fined  12  pence  sterl- 
ing, which  shows  that  the  early  Pennsylvanian 
didn't  know  how  to  get  elected  to  the  Legisla- 
ture, draw  his  salary  and  stationery  allow- 
ances, collect  his  mileage  both  ways,  and 
gather  in  a  goodly  allowance  for  a  committee 
clerk,  and  never  go  near  the  capital.  A  bill 
was  introduced  prescribing  that  "  two  cloaths" 
only  be  used  for  clothing,  one  for  winter  and 
one  for  summer,  but  it  was  lost,  as  was  also 
the  bill  fining  all  young  men  who  failed  to 
marry  at  a  specified  age. 

And  this  year  also  cometh  "  Indian  Ben," 
saying  that  he  is  an  African  slave  of  genuine 
Indian  parentage,  and  that  he  is  the  bounden 
slave  of  Friend  Ewer,  and  he  prays  for  his  free- 


144  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

dom.  But  he  didn't  get  it  all  the  same.  His 
owner  said,  'f  What's  Ewer's  is  mine)  and  what's 
mine  is  my  own,"  and  held  on  to  his  slave.  It 
was  five  years  later  that  the  first  protest  against 
human  slavery  came  from  the  lips  and  hearts 
of  Quakers.  And  they  were  not  English  Qua- 
kers then. 

The  grand  jury  this  year  presented  "  that  ail 
trees  that  are  offensive  in  this  city  may  be  cut 
down."  fit  may  have  been  necessary  to  have 
the  trees  destroyed,  but  still  one  cannot  help 
wishing  that  the  members  of  this  grand  jury 
had  been  first  hanged  on  them.^ 

The  attention  of  the  Council  was  also  called 
to  a  very  grave  matter.  John  White*  came 
before  it  with  the  information  that  the  Mary- 
landers  had  reenforced  their  fort  at  Christiana, 
and  would  not  let  him  cut  hay.  Nay,  further- 
more, they  pointed  their  guns  at  him  and  cast 
what  hay  he  already  had  cut  into  the  swiftly 
flowing  river.  Moreover,  "  Major.  English  came 
into  New  Castle  with  forty  armed  men  on 
horses,  and  told  him  that,  as  to  the  case  of  his 

hay,  he  might  peaceably  cut  it,  if  he  would  only 

• 

*Son  of  old  White,  of  Whiteville,  White  County. 


,£t.  39.]        THE   OLD   SETTLER'S   UNION,  145 

say  to  them,  "  Thou  drunken  doggred  Inglish, 
let  me  cut  hay."  It  doesn't  appear  whether  he 
said  it  or  not,  but  this  shows  what  vast  and 
tangled  questions  of  diplomacy  and  statecraft 
our  fathers  wrestled  with. 

This  year  and  those  following  it  abound  in 
old  settlers'  stories,  of  cold  weather,  unprece- 
dented high  water,  big  yields  of  corn,  the  com- 
fort of  the  cave  houses,  abundance  of  game,  and 
tame  Indians.  A  boy  was  sent  out  by  an  im- 
provident white  family  to  beg  corn  of  some  in- 
dustrious Indians.  One  of  the  Indians,  seeing 
the  boy  had  nothing  to  put  the  corn  in,  and 
knowing  a  great  deal  better  than  to  lend  a  bas- 
ket, or  anything  else,  to  a  white  man,  took  off 
the  boy's  trousers,  tied  the  ends  of  the  legs  to- 
gether, filled  them  with  corn,  and  hanging  the 
laden  bifurcated  garmenture  about  the  boy's 
neck,  sent  him  home. 

Again,  some  most  excellent  Indians,  meeting 
some  white  boys  in  the  woods  in  the  afternoon, 
fearing  they  might  get  lost,  sent  them  home,* 
then  came  to  the  house  late  at  night,  unable  to 
sleep  for  anxiety,  to  ask  if  the  boys  got  home 

*  Knowing  that  was  the  very  way  to  make  any  boy  go  farther 
into  the  woods. 


146  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

all  right.  They  seemed  very  much  disappointed 
on  learning  that  they  did  and  were  then  sound 
asleep  in  bed,  and  went  away  profoundly  de- 
jected, the  elder  of  the  Indians  remarking  to 
his  comrades  "  that  a  scalp  in  the  bush  is  worth 
six  in  the  house." 

Richard  Townsend  was  very  much  annoyed 
by  a  deer  which  came  to  look  at  him  while  he 
was  mowing.  Richard  did  not  mow  very  well, 
having  a  habit  of  plunging  the  point  of  the 
scythe  into  the  ground  and  then  falling  for- 
ward over  the  heel  thereof,  abrading  his  shins 
and  ruining  his  temper  as  he  went  over.  The 
deer  followed  him  round  and  round,  until  its 
scrutiny  became  so  embarrassing  that  Friend 
Townsend  hung  his  scythe  in  a  tree  and  made 
a  rush  at  the  deer.  The  fleet-footed  monarch 
of  the  glen  made  a  bee-line  for  the  mountains. 
[  Richard  Townsend  had  no  gun,  but  he  gave 
chase,  and  taking  off  his  boots  ran  the  deer 
down  and  kicked  it  to  death?)  One  of  Rich- 
ard's neighbors  "  had  a  bull  so  gentle  that  he 
used  to  bring  his  corn  on  him  instead  of  a 
horse."  This  may  have  been  a  very  remark- 
able thing  in  those  days,  though  we  cannot  see 
why  a  bull  that  would  carry  a  horse  to  mill 


JEt.  39.]  INDIAN  NURSES.  147 

without  protest  shouldn't  be  perfectly  willing 
to  carry  a  sack  of  corn. 

In  those  days  when  the  Friends  went  to 
yearly  meeting,  it  was  the  custom  of  some  fami- 
lies to  leave  the  children  at  home,  and  the 
Indians  always  came  over  to  the  house,  washed 
the  youngsters'  faces,  brushed  their  hair  until 
they  cried,  just  as  vigorously  as  their  own 
mothers  could,  and  would  have  clawed  their 
tender  scalps,  pulled  their  hats  down  to  their 
necks,  and  with  a  final  whack  on  the  crowns, 
so  that  not  even  a  cyclone  could  lift  the  hat,* 
sent  them  to  school.  Then  they  fed  the  baby, 
rocked  it  to  sleep,  swept  and  dusted  the  rooms, 
brushed  the  fender,  and  scoured  the  hearth 
with  Venetian  red,  pocketed  a  handful  of  but- 
tons, some  spoons,  and  a  case-knife,  slid  the 
grindstone  under  their  blankets,  gathered  up 
the  axe,  smelt  around  the  pantry  for  rum,  and 
went  away  into  the  pathless  forest  without 
waiting  to  receive  the  thanks  of  the  grateful 
parents. 

When    John    Chapman's    daughter   wanted 

*  It  was  only  by  closely  observing  a  white  Christian  mother 
put  her  own  boy's  hat  on  his  defenceless  head  that  the  Indians 
could  catch  this  graceful  knack. 


148  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

venison,  she  just  went  out  into  the  woods,  found 
a  big  fat  buck,  took  the  halter  off  her  horse 
and  slipped  it  over  the  buck's  head,  and  led 
him  home. 

William  Penn  writes  in  a  long  letter  to  the 
Free  Society  of  Traders  that  "  the  kings, 
queens,  and  great  men  of  several  Indian  tribes 
visited  him;"*  he  found  the  land  to  contain 
"  divers  sorts  of  earth,  sand,  yellow  and  black, 
and  gravel,  loamy  and  dusty,  and  in  some 
places  a  fast  fat  earth,"  not  to  mention  the  kind 
he  could  fall  down  in  on  the  cross-walks ;  and 
with  the  unfailing  instinct  of  an  old  settler  he 
says  as  to  weather,("  I  have  lived  over  the 
hottest  and  coldest  that  the  oldest  liver  in  the 
province  can  remember.Mf  He  also  discovered 
that  the  "natural  product  of  the  country,  oi 
vegetables,  is  trees,  fruits,  plants,  flowers." 

This  information  was  received  with  great  joy 
by  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  which  had 
previously/  supposed  that  the  vegetable  pro- 
ducts of  Pennsylvania  were  limited  exclusively 

*  William  always  managed  to  get  into  the  best  society  wher- 
ever he  went. 

f  Penn  hadn't  been  here  long,  but  he  wasn't  going  to  sit 
around  and  let  any  "old  subscriber"  or  "oldest  inhabitant" 
hold  over  the  proprietor. 


jEt.  39.]  ANCIENT  COLONIAL  LIVER  PADS.  149 

to  clams,  planked  shad,  Philadelphia  squab, 
waffles  and  catfish,  crude  petroleum,  and  the 
Standard  Oil  Company,  j  Peaches,  Penn  said, 
were  in  great  quantities,  and  "  made  a  pleasant 
drink,"  from  which  we  infer  that  they  didn't 
waste  many  peaches  in  pies  or  canning  establish- 
ments. He  also  declares  that  he  is  going  into 
the  wine  business  with  some  of  the  native 
grapes,  and  "  hopes  the  consequence  will  be 
as  good  wine  as  any  European  countries  of 
the  same  latitude  do  yield."  Never  in  his  life 
had  "he  tasted  such  duck  and  veal."  He 
found  divers  plants  which  were  medicinal,  and 
"all  of  great  virtue,  suddenly  curing  the  pa- 
tient." From  these  wild  plants,  of  such  supe- 
rior virtue,  is  made  the  wonderful  and  infalli- 
ble medicine  the  proprietors  of  which  offered 
the  publishers  of  this  work  $65,000  for  the  in- 
sertion of  its  name  in  this  connection.* 

He    found    the     Indians     numerous,    "tall, 

straight,  well  built,  and  of  singular  proportions; 

• 

they  tread  strong  and  clever,  and  mostly  walk 

/       *  But  the  publishers   refused.      They   said   they  were   not 

/      publishing  books  for  money,  but  simply  for  the  diffusion  of  a 

higher  knowledge,    the   elevation   of  literary   taste,   and    the 

\     gratuitous  dissemination  of  a  broader  information  on  histori- 

\x  cal,  speculative,  and  scientific  problems. 


ISO  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

with  a  lofty  chin."  He  did  "  see  some  as 
comely  European-like  faces  among  them  of 
both  sexes  as  on  your  side  of  the  sea," — a  style 
of  Indian  that  has  forever  passed  away  (  Feni- 
more  Cooper  used  them  all  up^ 

"  For  their  original,"  continues  Penn,  speak- 
ing of  the  Indians,  "  I  am  ready  to  believe  them 
of  the  Jewish  race,  I  mean  of  the  stock  of  the 
ten  tribes,  and  that  for  the  following  reasons : 
they  were  to  go  to  a  land  not  planted  or 
known;"  "their  eye  is  little  and  black,  not  un- 
like a  straight-looked  Jew ;"  "  their  language  is 
lofty  and  narrow,  but  like  the  Hebrew  in 
signification,  full ;"  "  I  find  them  of  the  like 
countenance,  and  their  children  of  so  lively 
resemblance  that  a  man  would  think  himself  in 
Duke's  Place  or  Berry  Street,  London,  when 
he  seeth  them ;"  "  they  agree  in  rites ;  they 
reckon  by  moons ;  they  offer  their  first-fruits ;" 
"  they  have  a  kind  of  feast  of  tabernacles ;  they 
are  said  to  lay  their  altar  upon  twelve  stones ; 

0 

their  mourning  lasts  a  year." 

He  loved  their  language :  "  I  know  not  a 
language  in  Europe  that  hath  words  of  more 
sweetness  or  greatness,  in  accent  or  emphasis," 
to  prove  which  he  cites  Octocockon,  Shak, 


JEt.  39.]         VOLUMINOUS  LEGISLATION,  !$! 

Poquesian,  Passijon,  *  Secatareus,  Runcocas, 
and  Oricton.  He  praises  their  liberality,  and 
mourns  over  their  love  of  rum.  At  least  one  of 
their  characteristics  has  been  handed  down  to 
their  children,  and  has  developed  and  grown 
strong  with  age.  For  it  is  so  that  the  for- 
bidden fire-water  which  the  honest  trader  sell- 
eth  in  these  days  to  the  children  of  the  forest 
is  even  so  craftily  qualified  that  when  a  white 
man,  even  a  blue-tempered  cowboy  from  the 
ranges  of  the  Arkansaw/arinketh  but  one  drink 
of  it,  he  straightway  turneth  about  and  looketh 
for  a  clean  place  where  he  may  have  a  fit.  f 

The  Swedes,  who  were  in  the  province  be- 
fore Penn's  arrival,  taught  the  Indians  to  drink 
not  only  rum^but  raw  whisky,  alcohol,  high- 
wines,  camphene,  aqua  fortis,  burning  fluid, 
non-explosive  kerosene,  and  other  mild  north- 
ern exhilarators.J 

Penn  was  proud  because  his  two  general 
assemblies  passed  seventy  bills  in  two  weeks, 
though  but  sixty-one  of  them  went  on  record 

f*  William  seems  to  have  omitted  the  syllables  "  demi"  be-  A 
tween  i  and  j  in  this  word. 

\  He  may  not  find  the  clean  place,  but  he  has  the  fit,  with- 
out any  postponement  on  account  of  the  weather. 


152  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

as  laws,  as  though  he  foresaw  that  their  suc- 
cessors would  take  seventy  weeks  to  pass  two 
laws,  and  both  of  them  private  bills  embodying 
land-grants  or  railroad  franchises.  He  says 
there  was  room  in  the  Schuylkill — which  in  his 
plain  way  he  spells  Sculkil — to  "lay  up  the 
royal  navy  of  England."  /  It  is  still  large  enough 
to  lay  up  occasionally  the  American  ice-man, 
who  is  a  much  larger  man  than  the  royal  navy 
of  Great  Britain^  and  it  costs  a  great  deal  more 
to  keep  him  up.y  The  Schuylkill,  Penn  said, 
"  was  a  hundred  miles  boatable  above  the  falls," 
but  he  wisely  refrained  from  saying  what  kind 
of  boats.  There  were  fourscore  houses  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  no  end  of  caves,  wherein  the  peo- 
ple were  behaving  themselves  about  as  well  as 
could  be  expected  of  people  who  live  in  caves, 
which  was  very  well.*  The  saw-mill  and  the 
timber  for  the  glass-house  were  placed  by  the 
river  side,  for  convenience  of  shipments,  with- 
out any  regard  for  the  interests  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad;  "the  tannery  hath  plenty  of 
bark."  f  Two  whale-ships  were  fitted  out,  and 
a  company  was  going  to  lay  a  pipe-line  to  Nan- 

*  Considering  they  lived  in  caves, 
f  So  had  the  quinine. 


JEt.  39.]  STILL   THE  MARYLAND  BOUNDARY.     153 

tucket,  and  charge  tankage  for  every  whale 
struck  outside  of  Pennsylvania  waters;  Penn 
urged  the  Society  of  Traders  to  promote 
"  whatever  tends  to  the  promotion  of  wine  and 
the  manufacture  of  linen  in  these  parts,"  even 
while  he  mourned  over  the  growing  fondness 
of  the  intemperate  savage  for  rum.  /  Penn  was 
a  teetotaler,  but  he  wasn't  bigoted,  j 

The  Friends  by  this  time  had  a  Jew  meeting- 
houses in  the  country.  There  were  three  in 
Pennsylvania,  one  at  Falls,  one  at  Pennsbury, 
the  Governor's  house,  and  one  at  Colchester, 
"all  in  the  county  of  Bucks;"  one  at  Phila- 
delphia, one  at  Tawcony,  one  at  Ridley,  at  J. 
Simcock's,  and  one  at  Wm.  Rure's,  at  Chiches- 
ter;  the  Dutch  had  a  meeting-house  at  New 
Castle,  and  the  Swedes  had  three — at  Christina, 
at  Tenecum,  and  at  Wicoco — within  half  a  mile 
of  Philadelphia. 

This  summer  went  Colonel  Markham  to  Eng- 
land on  business  for  Penn.  Lord  Baltimore  and 
the  proprietor  of  Pennsylvania  were  still  wrang- 
ling over  the  boundary  question,  f  Each  man 
owned  more  land  than  he  could  walk  over  if  he 
tramped  all  the  rest  of  his  life,  but  he  wanted 
more.  j  In  fact,  a  provincial  proprietor  never 


154  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

did  know  when  he  had  enough.  He  knew  that 
he  never  had  so  much  that  he  couldn't  hold  a 
little  more,  if  he  could  lay  his  hands  upon  it. 
This  Maryland  boundary  question  was  the  first, 
and  for  a  time  the  only  serious  annoyance  that 
troubled  Penn  in  the  "  Holy  Experiment."  Col- 
onel Markham,  as  his  agent,  had  held  interview 
after  interview  with  Lord  Baltimore  and  his 
agents,  without  reaching  any  satisfactory  con- 
clusion. Penn  met  Lord  Baltimore,  in  all 
formal  state  and  decorous  cordiality,  at  Colonel 
Failler's  mansion  in  Anne  Arundel  County,  and 
once  again  in  New  Castle,  to  discuss  this  bound- 
ary. But  nothing  came  of  it.  The  complete  and 
appalling  ignorance  of  the  English  people  in  re- 
gard to  the  geography  of  America  at  that  time 
was  even  greater  than  it  is  to-day.*  This  was 
partly  owing  to  the  fact  that  in  those  days  very 
few  people  came  from  England  to  America, 
unless  they  were  driven  to  it  by  persecution 
and  threats  of  death,  and  when  a  British  travel- 
ler did  come  over  for  the  purpose  of  making  ob- 


*  This  startling  statement  has  been  challenged  by  many  of 
the  leading  minds  of  the  day,  among  others  the  proof-reader 
and  the  author  of  Webster's  Dictionary.  I  reassert  the  state- 
ment, however,  and  stand  prepared  to  prove  it. 


jEt.  39.]    AMERICAN  GEOGRAPHY  ABROAD.         155 

servations  and  gathering  materials  for  a  book, 
(  he  probably  bought  a  through  ticket  in  Boston 
for  San  Francisco,  crept  into  a  Pullman  car, 
and  slept  for  six  days  and  nights,  woke  up 
in  San  Francisco,  went  on  to  England  by  the 
Pacific  steamers  and  the  oriental  overland  route, 
and  published  a  "  History  of  the  American  colo- 
nies, with  an  account  of  the  manners,  customs, 
and  national  characteristics  of  the  inhabitants  ; 
political  organization,  and  religious  peculiari- 
ties ;  with  a  complete  glossary  of  the  language ; 
embellished  with  numerous  illustrations  and 
most  accurate  maps,  and  a  portrait  of  General 
Assembly,  commander-in-chief  of  the  state  of 
Philadelphia."*) 

Owing  to  this  lamentable  state  of  ignorance 
on  the  part  of  the  Government,  the  boundaries 
of  all  the  colonies,  from  North  Carolina  to 
Connecticut,  were  so  inaccurately  and  loosely 

/      *  Even  the  most  sceptical  will  admit  that  matters  are  not 
quite  so  bad  to-day.     Very  few  English  maps  now  locate  Erie, 
Pa.,  on  the  Canadian  side  of  Lake  Erie,  and  Illinois  is  usually  • 
set  down  as  the  capital  of  Nebraska.     It  used  to  be  located 
and  described  as  the  capital  of  Faneuil  Hall.      Chicago,  also, 
\      is  now  located  as  the  sea-port   town  of  Texas  ;    whereas  older 
*,     English  geographers  used  to  say  there  was  no  such  state  as 
\    Chicago  ! ! 


156  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

described  that  the  proprietor  of  any  province 
could,  with  all  color  of  right  and  law,  claim  as 
much  of  any  other  province  as  he  wanted. 
Lord  Baltimore's  patent  for  Maryland  named 
the  fortieth  degree  of  latitude  for  the  northern 
boundary  of  his  province.  Penn's  charter  for 
his  province  also  included  "the  beginning  of 
the  fortieth  degree  of  latitude,"  and  further- 
more the  charter  settled  the  location  of  his 
fortieth  degree  of  latitude  by  saying  that  it  ran 
twelve  miles  north  of  New  Castle.  For  eigh- 
teen years  Lord  Baltimore  had  been  claiming 
all  or  a  part  of  this  disputed  territory  on  the 
Delaware  from  the  Dutch,  but  the  Dutch,  who 
had  defeated  the  Swedes  and  taken  it  away 
from  them,  refused  to  give  up  a  foot  of  it,  and 
Lord  Baltimore  did  not  care  to  fight  about  it, 
as  the  Dutch  had  pretty  much  their  own  way 
on  the  ocean  blue,  until  the  English  finally  con- 
quered the  New  Netherlands  and  took  posses- 
sion of  the  Dutch  settlements  and  all  the  lands, 
industries,  chattels,  and  effects. 

Then  when  the  King  and  the  Duke  of  York 
granted  these  lands  to  William  Penn,  Lord 
Baltimore  smote  upon  his  chest  and  said  he  was 
a  man  of  war,  he  would  assert  his  rights,  and 


JEt.  39.]  RECKONING  WITHOUT  HIS  HOST.  157 

he  could  whip  any  non-combatant  Quaker  that 
ever  went  out  without  his  gun/)  Having  none 
but  Quakers  to  oppose  him,  and  knowing  they 
would  not  fight,  he  bristled  up,  made  a  formal 
demand  for  all  the  country  in  Pennsylvania  and 
its  annexed  territories  south  of  the  fortieth 
degree  of  north  latitude,  and  in  the  spring  of 
1684  sent  a  military  column,  under  Colonel 
Talbot,  to  occupy  several  plantations  in  the 
lower  counties,  and  immediately  after  his  last 
conference  with  Penn  wrote  to  the  Marquis  of 
Halifax  and  Secretary  Blaythwarte,  in  London, 
an  account  of  the  meeting,  very  naturally  and 
properly  telling  the  true  statement  in  the  man- 
ner best  calculated  to  count  the  most  for  Balti- 
more. u  My  motto  in  this  boundary  war,"  he 
wrote,  "  is  the  old  war-cry  of  our  fathers,  '  Fifty- 
four  forty  or  fight.' "  *  Lord  Baltimore  felt 
very  easy  over  the  boundary  dispute  now.  "  I 
am  a  little  ashamed  to  fight  a  Quaker,"  he  said, 
"  it  is  so  safe  and  so  easy,  but  I'll  have  to  throw 
him  if  he  won't  lie  dc/wn." 


*  But  then  remembering  that  his  fathers  who  raised  that  cry 
were  not  fathers  until  long  after  his  son  was  a  grandfather,  he 
scratched  out  that  sentence. 


158  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1683. 

Alas  for  Lord  Baltimore !  Other  men  had 
telt  just  that  way  about  it  before  him.  But 
they  never  felt  that  way  after  William  Penn  let 
go  of  them, 


CHAPTER  X. 

IN  THE  COURT  OF  THE  KING. 

OENN  landed  in  England  in  October,  and  met 
*  a  cheerful  and  exhilarating  welcome.  His 
wife  was  convalescent,  but  still  poorly ;  the 
children  had  all  been  sick,  but  were  now  con- 
sidered out  of  danger ;  his  old  friend  Algernon 
Sidney  had  been  beheaded,  the  persecutions  of 
all  non-conformists  had  begun  again  with  new 
and  harsher  violence,  the  prisons  were  full  of 
his  brethren  the  Friends,  as  usual,  and  society 
and  political  circles  were  full  of  all  sorts  of 
malicious  slanders  and  libellous  stories  and 
rumors  about  himself.  Penn  was  deeply  im- 
pressed. ^He  hummed  a  few  strains  of  "  Home, 
sweet  home,"  before  he  remembered  that  song 
had  not  yet  been  written.^ 

He  visited  with  his  family  a  few  days,  and 
then  went  straight  to  court  to  see  the  King  and 
the  Duke  of  York  and  get  in  his  best  work  in 
the  boundary  business.  Lord  Baltimore  was 


l6o  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1684. 

there  ahead  of  him,  and  while  Penn  was  re- 
ceived very  cordially,  he  "  found  things  in  gen- 
eral with  another  face  than  when  he  left  them  ; 
sour  and  stern,  and  resolved  to  hold  the  reins 
of  power  with  a  stiffer  hand  than  heretofore, 
especially  over  those  that  were  observed  to  be 
state  or  church  dissenters."  No  wonder  the 
Quaker  Governor  thought  that  "to  keep  fair 
with  a  displeased  and  resolved  government,  that 
had  weathered  its  point  upon  Penn's  own  party, 
"humbled  and  mortified  them,  and  was  daily 
improving  all  its  advantages  upon  them,  was  a 
difficult  task  to  perform." 

The  solution  of  the  boundary  question  dragged 
along,  with  very  little  attention.  Charles's  health 
was  failing  rapidly  and  he  did  not  take  so  much 
interest  in  the  far-away  colonies  of  the  new 
world  ^as  in  another  foreign  country,  an  un- 
known realm,  that  was  a  great  way  farther  off 
from  him  than  Pennsylvania/)  So  the  two  Gov- 
ernors waited  patiently  for  a  change  of  kings, 
Penn  engaging  all  his  time  and  influence  in  suc- 
coring distressed  Quakers,  interceding  for  par- 
dons,^and  getting  people  out  of  prison,  so  that 
others  might  be  put  in  yfor  the  prison  cells  were 
always  kept  warm,  and  usually  with  Quakers, 


/Et.  4i.]   CHARLES  BLESSES  THE  WORLD.    1 6-1 

so  long  as  there  were  enough  of  them  to  go 
around.  He  settled  the  flying  rumors  derog- 
atory to  his  own  character  as  a  man  and  a 
Friend.  It  was  even  reported  that  he  was  an 
iron-clad  Quaker,  armed  to  the  teeth ;  that  he 
built  a  fort  at  New  Castle  and  mounted  a  lot 
of  guns,  in  casemates  and  en  barbette,  with  in- 
tent to  do  bodily  harm  to  some  belligerent  Pres- 
byterian or  stray  Baptist  hunting  for  a  sandy 
beach  and  waist-deep  water.  But  Penn  knocked 
all  this  terrible  fort  about  his  enemies'  ears  with 
a  letter.  He  said  there  were  some  old  cannon 
lying  on  the  ground  or  swinging  in  broken  car- 
riages at  New  Castle  when  he  went  there,  but 
there  wasn't  a  round  of  shot  nor  an  ounce  of 
powder,  "  and  had  not  been  since  he  landed ; 
and  he  could  no  more  be  charged  with  warlike 
propensities  on  their  account  than  could  a  man 
who  happened  to  buy  a  house  with  an  old 
musket  in  it."  ("  Because,"  said  this  skilful 
pamphleteer,  "  I  find  a  blonde  hair  in  my  butter, 
I  do  not  shriek  out  that  there  is  a  woman  in  the 
churn."  } 

On  the  6th  of  February  Charles  the  Second, 
feelingrchat  humanity  rather  expected  something 
good  of  him,  benefited  mankind  by  dyingA  It 


1  62  WILLIAM  PENtf.  [1685. 

was  \£he  last  act  of  his  life,  and  about  the  one 


solitary  good  deed  he  ever  performed.  After  a 
reign  in  which  unblushing  vice  and  the  immo- 
rality of  the  time  were  illustrated  in  the  charac- 
ter of  the  King  —  a  King  who  was  nicknamed 
"  Old  Goat"  by  one  who  best  knew  him  —  a  reign 
in  which  "  the  caresses  of  harlots  and  the  jests 
of  buffoons  regulated  the  manners  of  a  govern- 
ment which  had  just  ability  enough  to  deceive 
and  just  religion  enough  to  persecute"  —  the 
King  died  in  a  fit,  the  result  of  his  horrible  ex- 
cesses and  vices.*  Thus  the  world  was  happily 
quit  of  a  "  licentious  debauchee,  persecuting 
sceptic,  and  faithless  ruler." 

For  such  a  good  man,  William  Penn  was  de- 
cidedly unfortunate  in  his  royal  friends  and 
acquaintances.  He  said  in  a  letter  to  Thomas 
Lloyd,  "  He  was  an  able  man  for  a  troubled  and 
divided  kingdom,"  probably  the  worst  thing 
Penn  ever  said. 


*  It  is  very  singular  that  he  should  have  died,  because  Penn 
writes  :  "  As  he  sat  down  to  shave,  his  head  twitched  both  ways 
or  sides,  and  he  gave  a  shriek  and  fell  as  dead,  and  so  remained 
for  some  hours;  they  opportunely  blooded  and  cupped  him,  and   \ 
plied  his  head  -with  red-hot  frying-pans" !     And  yet  the  patient     ' 
died.     One  would  suppose  such  treatment  would  cure  a  para-    / 
lytic  in  a  minute.  / 


jEt.  41.]     A  MIRACLE-WORKING  MONARCH.          163 

During  the  reign  of  Charles  more  than  fifteen 
thousand  families  had  been  ruined  for  opinion's 
sake,  in  the  name  of  the  Church ;  four  thousand 
of  these  victims  of  persecution  died  in  loathsome 
prisons.  And,  think  of  it!  in  five  years  this 
monarch  "  touched  23,601  of  his  subjects  for 
the  scrofula,  or  king's  evil ;  the  bishops  of  the 
Church  of  England  invented  a  sort  of  heathen 
service  for  the  occasion ;"  the  "  unchristianlike, 
superstitious  ceremony  was  performed  in  pub- 
lic ;"  and  Dr.  Wiseman,  an  eminent  physician  of 
that  time,  writing  of  scrofula,  says :  "  However, 
I  must  needs  profess  that  his  Majesty  cureth 
more  in  one  year  than  all  the  chirurgeons  of 
London  have  done  in  an  age." 

Be  it  said  to  the  credit  of  James, — so  few  things 
can  be  said  to  his  credit, — that  while  he  was  Duke 
of  York  he  had  often  protested  against  some 
of  the  vices  and  the  persecutions  which  marred 
his  brother's  reign,  if  a  reign  without  one  redeem- 
ing quality  can  be  said  to  be  marred  by  any 
particular  vice.-  And  now  that  he  was  King,  he 
was  moved  to  be  more  indulgent.  Penn  waited 
upon  him-  very  promptly  in  be'half  of  the  im- 
prisoned Quakers,  and  James,  avowing  himself 
a  Catholic,  promised  to  do  what  he  could  to 


164  WILLIAM  PENN,  [1685. 

secure  toleration  for  dissenters.  He  told  Penn 
he  was  going  to  be  open  and  above-board. 
Penn  expressed  his  approval  of  his  frankness, 
and  further  hoped  that  "  we  should  come  in  for 
a  share."  The  King  smiled,  and  said  "  he 
desired  not  that  peaceable  people  should  be  dis- 
turbed for  their  religion."  Not  a  great  while 
after,  by  releasing  persons  confined  in  prison 
merely  for  refusing  to  take  the  oaths  of  alle- 
giance and  supremacy,  1,200  Quakers  were  set 
at  liberty.  James  was  inclined  to  be  very  in- 
dulgent. He  had  been  a  sufferer  from  perse- 
cution himself,  and  knew  what  it  tasted  like. 
It  may  barely  be  that  his  motives  in  opening 
the  prison-doors  were  manly  and  honorable. 
But  he  was  a  Stuart,  and  it  was  more  likely  that 
some  lurking  meanness  impelled  him  to  acts  of 
simple  justice  and  common  decency.  But  an 
honest  man  was  such  a  rarity  in  those  times* 
that  people  were  disposed  to  magnify  and  cele- 
brate the  smallest  acts  of  common  humanity 
without  questioning  the  motives  that  led  to 
their  commission. 

James  had  been  the  friend  and  guardian  of 

/  *  Except  in  the  prisons.  \ 


j£t.  4i.]    PENN'S  INFLUENCE  AT  COURT.          165 

William  Penn,  ever  since  the  dying  Admiral 
committed  his  Quaker  son  to  the  care  and  good 
offices  of  his  royal  patrons.  The  acquaintance 
and  intimacy  then  begun  ripened  rapidly  now, 
and  the  Quaker  spent  a  great  deal  of  his  time  at 
court.  His  enemies  made  the  most,  and  the 
worst,  of  this  favor  with  which  he  was  received 
at  the  court  of  a  Catholic  'monarch,  who 
dropped  on  his  knees  before  the  Papal  nuncio, 
went  daily  and  publicly  to  mass  at  Whitehall, 
and  permitted  the  Jesuits  to  build  a  college  in 
London. 

But  there  were  still  hundreds  of  poor  Qua- 
kers kept  in  jail  for  non-payment  of  jailor's  fees, 
it  being (^n  ancient  English  idea  that  if  a  man  had 
no  money,  and  you  kept  him  where  he  couldn't 
by  any  possibility  get  any,  he  would  by  and  by 
pay  you  in  fullA  Penn  felt  that  it  was  for  their 
suffering  sakes  he  was  now  placed  near  the 
throne.  Then,  too,  while  he  pleaded  with  James 
for  religious  liberty  and  the  release  of  the  suf- 
fering Quakers,  he  could  now  and  then  prod  his 
Majesty  a  little  on  that  Maryland  boundary 
business,  and  so  open  the  prison-doors,  and 
crowd  Lord  Baltimore  down  south  of  the 
fortieth  degree  of  latitude.  He  moved  his  farn- 


1 66  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1685. 

ily  to  town  that  he  might  be  always  at  the  King's 
elbow,  and  every  day  found  him  at  White- 
hall. Be  it  said  that  he  used  his  influence  with 
the  king  tor  good,  and  was  earnest  in  his  efforts 
not  alone  for  his  own  society  of  Friends,  and  his 
own  personal  interest,  but  for  other  Christian 
denominations  suffering  persecution.  His  in- 
fluence upon  James  was  undoubtedly  of  the 
best.  But  James's  influence  upon  Penn  was  not 
likely  to  improve  the  Quaker's  morals  to  any 
alarming  extent. 

As  Penn  was  known  to  have  considerable  in- 
fluence with  the  administration,  large  numbers 
of  people  who  could  not  reach  the  King,  but 
could  crowd  in  on  Penn,  thronged  his  house  in 
Kensington,  and  overwhelmed  him  with  pe- 
titions and  recommendations  and  applications 
and  addresses  and  advice  and  all  the  usual 
diversity  of  documents  that  flow  in  upon  a  new 
government. 

Among  the  first  favors  he  asked  of  the  King 
was  a  pardon  for  John  Locke,  whom  Charles 
had  meanly  stripped  of  his  honors  and  dignities 
and  cast  out  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  "  of 
which  he  was  the  chief est  ornament."  The 
exiled  philosopher  went  to  the  Hague,  where 


Mt.  41.]          A  GENERAL    UTILITY  MAN.  l6? 

he  busied  himself  with  his  great  work  on  the 
"  Human  Understanding."  James  had  been  a 
consenting  party  to  Locke's  banishment,  but,  at 
Penn's  intercession,  he  readily  granted  the  par- 
don. Like  George  Fox,  however,  the  philoso- 
pher refused  to  accept  a  pardon  when  he  had 
committed  no  crime,  and  he  remained  steadfast 
to  this  view  of  his  duty. 

Penn  seems  to  have  been  a  general  mediator 
for  everybody  at  this  time.  He  assisted  Pop- 
ple, Locke's  personal  and  political  friend,  out  of 
some  serious  troubles  in  France.  Retired  and 
exiled  Whigs  came  or  sent  to  him,  and  found  a 
friend  in  him.  He  interceded  for  everybody  in 
trouble,  and  sometimes  got  into  startling  scenes 
with  his  royal  patron  on  this  account.  On  one 
occasion,  at  the  request  of  a  prominent  Whig, 
Penn  asked  for  a  pardon  for  Aaron  Smith,  a 
man  to  whom  he  had  never  spoken.  At  the 
mention  of  his  name  the  King  flew  into  a  terri- 
ble rage ;  angrily  declared  that  he  would  do  no 
such  thing;  said  that  six  fellows  like  Smith 
would  put  the  three  kingdoms  in  a  flame  ;  de- 
clared there  were  too  many  Smiths  anyhow, 
and  threatened  to  turn  Penn  outjof  the  room. 
He  was  only  temporarily  silenced,  and  the 


l68  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1685. 

next  time  he  preferred  his  request,  he  found  the 
King  in  a  better  humor  and  got  the  pardon  he 
wanted. 

Of  course  Penn's  enemies — and  a  man  of  his 
force  of  character  had  plenty  of  them — made  the 
most  of  this  close  intimacy  between  the  Catholic 
monarch  and  the  Quaker,  and  the  report  was 
rapidly  circulated  that  Penn  himself  was  a 
Papist,  a  Catholic  of  Catholics,  a  Jesuit,  edu- 
cated at  St.  Omer's,  the  great  Jesuit  seminary. 
Even  Dr.  Tillotson,  afterward  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  whom  Penn  esteemed  as  "  first  of 
his  robe,"  was  troubled  and  filled  with  doubts 
by  these  rumors.  Day  by  day  the  stories  grew, 
until  it  was  said  that  Penn  "  had  matriculated  in 
the  Jesuits'  college,  had  taken  holy  orders  at 
Rome,  and  now  regularly  officiated  in  the  ser- 
vice of  mass  in  the  private  chapel  at  Whitehall." 
(Many  began  to  believe  that  he  was  the  Pope  in 
disguise  and  carried  the  Holy  Inquisition  around 
in  his  hat.\  Such  an  opportunity  to  write  a  pam- 
phlet was  not  to  be  thrown  away.  Penn  printed 
a  little  one, "  Fiction  Found  Out,"  but  it  was  not 
very  interesting.  It  had  lost  the  old  ring  of  the 
early  days  \vhen  his  pamphlets  were  shod  with 
fire  and  tempered  in  aqua  fortis.  The  womanly 


j£t.  41.]     THE  INSINUA  TIONS  REPELLED.  169 

influence  of  Guli  was  evident  in  his  preaching 
and  his  pamphlets,  and  his  enemies  and  friends 
fared  better  because  of  his  gentle  Quaker  wife. 
But  then,  his  pamphlets  were  not  such  interest- 
ing reading  for  the  general  public  as  they  used 
to  be  when  he  drew  blood  or  blisters  every  time 
he  hit.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  Dr.  Tillotson, 
which  satisfied  him,  and  their  old  friendship 
was  renewed.  The  Doctor  himself  set  to  work 
to  deny  the  stories  of  Penn's  Jesuitism,  but  this 
only  made  matters  worse,  for  people  now  said 
he  was  more  of  a  Jesuit  than  ever,  and  they 
could  prove  it  by  Dr.  Tillotson.  The  grade  of 
public  intelligence  was  at  a  very  high  ebb  at 
that  time.  You  had  to  put  a  man  in  prison, 
and  in  some  instances  cut  off  his  head,  before 
you  could  get  him  to  understand  what  you 
meant. 

All  this  time  the  boundary  dispute,  that 
brought  Penn  to  England,  dragged  along  like  a 
Congressional  investigation.  James  was  natu- 
rally well  disposed  to  Governor  Penn,  but  all 
these  disputes  of  boundaries  and  rights,  the  petty 
and  annoying  disagreements  between  the  colo- 
nies and  the  Crown,  the  quarrels  and  collisions 
between  the  all-pervading  royal  tax-collector 


170  WILLIAM  PENN  [1685. 

and  the  tax-hating  colonist,  were  damaging  the 
interests  of  all  the  proprietors  in  America,  (and 
the  home  Government  sometimes  half  wished 
America  had  never  been  disco  vered.N 

When  Penn  presented  his  formal  petition,  a 
council  was  at  once  called  to  take  the  subject 
into  final  consideration,  and  the  King  himself 
was  present  at  the  meeting  of  the  board.  It 
appeared  that  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
peninsula  between  the  Chesapeake  and  the 
Delaware  was  included  in  both  charters,  and 
both  proprietors  wanted  all  of  it.  After  the 
claims  were  gone  into  with  great  minuteness, 
James  settled  the  dispute  very  promptly.  He 
divided  the  debatable  ground  in  two  equal 
parts ;  the  eastern  half  he  gave  to  Lord  Balti- 
more, as  his  right,  and  the  western  half  he  kept 
himself,  to  keep  it  but  of  future  litigation.  As 
there  were  only  two  halves,  William  Penn  was 
left,  and  as  he  went  home  after  that  council  he 
kept  repeating  to  himself  as  he  went  along, 
"What  do  I  see  in  this  for  Jones?"*  James 
always  intimated  that  he  was  going  to  give  his 
half  of  the  peninsula  to  Penn,  some  time  when 

*  Penn  wrote  a  very  affecting  pamphlet  upon  this  decision, 
entitled  "Scoop  Tout." 


JEt.  41.]         MASON  AND  DIXON'S  LINE.  I /I 

Lord  Baltimore  had  forgotten  all  about  it,  but 
then  he  always  acted  as  though  he  was  going 
to  keep  it  himself  also, — which  he  did,  so  long  as 
he  kept  his  kingdom.  For  all  the  new  land  on 
the  peninsula  he  got,  William  Penn  might  as 
well  have  remained  in  Pennsylvania,  and  indeed 
it  would  have  been  money  in  his  pocket  if  he 
had.  He  didn't  find  much  of  anything  but 
trouble  in  England.  As  for  this  Maryland  and 
Pennsylvania  boundary,  it  was  a  baleful  seed  of 
trouble  and  troubles  to  come,  for  not  until  1762 
was  it  finally  settled,  and  then  it  was  surveyed 
by  two  engineers  sent  for  that  purpose  from 
England,  Charles  Mason  and  Jeremiah  Dixon, 
and  became  the  famous  Mason-and-Dixon's  line 
that  bred  much  grief  for  the  states  of  the  union 
that  succeeded  the  colonies. 

He  received  official  information  from  his 
province  that  the  Quakers  had  held  several  re- 
ligious meetings  with  the  Indians,  and  the  In- 
dians had  listened  with  great  patience  to  what- 
ever was  said,  were  deeply  affected  by  the 
meetings,  always  seemed  to  be  very  glad  when 
they  were  over,  and  the  same  Indians  never 
came  back  to  another  one. 

The  citizens  who  still  resided  in  caves  were 


1/2  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1685. 

this  year  disciplined,  because  these  holes  in  the 
ground  were  sinks  of  iniquity,  and  for  general 
depravity  and  freedom  of  conduct  were  proto- 
types of  modern  beer-dives.  And  the  Council 
had  therefore  ordered  these  caves  to  be  de- 
stroyed, as  Philadelphia  was  by  that  time  so 
prosperous  that  every  man  could  live  in  a  house, 
and  have  some  front  steps  to  scrub  every  Satur- 
day morning  and  fall  over  every  Saturday 
night.  The  Indians  had  been  called  together 
and  informed  that  they  could  have  rum,  subject 
to  the  same  pains  and  penalties  that  were  in- 
flicted upon  the  white  people  when  they  tarried 
too  long  at  the  jug,  a  condition  which  the  In- 
dians joyfully  accepted.  All  the  early*  history 
of  the  great  republic,  indeed,  appears  to  be 
most  intimately  and  inseparably  connected  with 
rum.  This  year  several  Indians  came  before 
the  Council  with  grave  complaints  against  the 
servants  of  Jasper  Farman,  who,  the  Indians 
averred,  had  made  them  drunk.  A  warrant 
was  immediately  issued  for  these  unfaithful  and 
bibulous  servants,  but  the  constable  who  under- 

*  And  later. 


Ml.  41."]  REFORM  IS  NECESSARY.  1/3 

took  to  serve  it  got  lost  in  the  woods,  or  himself 
succumbed  to  the  potency  of  the  rum  on  Far- 
man's  place,  it  isn't  certain  which,  and  the  trial 
was  postponed  until  the  next  day.  At  that  time 
Jasper  Farman's  servants  appeared  and  were 
ready  for  trial,  but  the  prosecuting  witnesses 
were  not  on  hand,  and  a  messenger  being  sent 
for  them,  they  were  found  at  home,  filled  with 
fire-water  even  unto  the  eyes,  and  so  drunken 
they  could  not  remember  their  own  nor  each 
other's  names. 

Penn,  among  other  things,  sent  peremptory 
instructions  to  Thomas  Lloyd,  President  of  the 
Council,  that  the  number  of  drinking-houses  in 
Philadelphia  should  be  reduced,  without  respect 
of  persons ;  he  deprecated  the  heavy  charges  to 
which  people  buying  lands  had  been  subjected, 
and  denounced  "  three  warrants  for  one  pur- 
chase" as  "an  abominable  thing."  He  was 
grieved  and  displeased  with  T.  Holme  for  im- 
proper charges  in  his  department ;  especially 
on  the  score  of  drinking-collations,  a  bill  of 
twelve  pounds,  amounting  to  one  quarter  of  the 
whole  purchase  of  the  land,  having  been  sent  in 
to  a  purchaser  for  expenses  incurred  in  this 


1/4  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1685. 

way.*  And  the  absent  Governor  mourned  be- 
cause animosities  had  begun  to  creep  into  the 
government,  and  made  up  his  mind  that  he 
would  come  back  to  his  province  in  the  follow- 
ing autumn,  unless  something  happened  to  pre- 
vent. And  the  very  next  mail  which  came 
wandering  along  some  time  that  year  brought 
him  the  reassuring  news  that  Nicholas  Moore, 
one  of  his  most  trusted  officials,  president  of  the 
Free  Society  of  Traders,  whom  he  had  appointed 
one  of  the  provincial  judges,  had  been  by  the 
Assembly  impeached,  on  ten  counts,  of  divers 
high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 

Penn's  presence  was  more  and  more  needed 
in  his  province  every  day,  the  boundary  question 
was  settled  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  all  the 
prison-doors  had  been  unhinged  that  he  could 
open ;  dissensions,  bickerings,  jealousies  were 
growing  in  his  province,  and  still  he  lingered  in 
England  and  went  to  court  every  day,  although 
he  hadn't  a  case  on  the  docket  and  not  a  ghost 
of  a  show  for  being  drawn  on  the  jury. 

The  flames  of  civil  war  were  kindled  in  Eng- 
land as  soon  as  James  was  fairly  seated  on  the 

*  Poor  Governor  Penn!  he  had  never  seen  the  itemized  ex- 
pense account  of  a  Congressional  delegation  at  a  funeral. 


iEt.  41. J  A  HARD  CROWD  FOR  A  CHRISTIAN        1/5 

throne,  but  the  insurrection  was  almost  instantly 
crushed.  Monmouth  and  Grey  were  taken  pris- 
oners, and  then  began  the  rule  of  the  infamous 
Jeffreys,  the  judge  who  had  condemned  Alger- 
non Sidney  to  the  block;  the  judge  "after 
James's  own  heart,"  who  "  was  not  redeemed 
from  his  vices  by  one  solitary  virtue."  England 
flowed  with  blood,  and  Jeffreys  wreaked  his 
own  bloodthirsty  malice  and  the  vengeance  of 
his  royal  master  on  hundreds  of  unfortunates 
who  were  unable  to  purchase  pardons ;  for  when 
James  did  not  behead  a  rebel  he  robbed  him,  and 
after  the  robbery  generally  transported  him  so 
that  he  couldn't  annoy  him  by  complaining 
about  it.  Penn  protested  against  all  this  cruelty 
and  waste  of  life.  He  was  ever  outspoken  and 
'  fearless  in  his  denunciation  of  Jeffreys,  even  in 
the  hour  of  that  bloodthirsty  judge's  greatest 
power,  openly  speaking  of  him  as  "  that  butcher" 
and  protesting  against  the  "run  of  barbarous 
cruelty"  due  to  "  Jeffreys'  cruel  temper."  His 
protests  appear  to  have  been  useless,  his  connec- 
tion with  the  court  laid  him  open  to  suspicion 
and  calumny,  and  it  is  at  this  very  time  the  Ma- 
caulay  charges  are  laid  against  him.  James  and 
Jeffreys, — it  would  be  wonderful  indeed  if  any 


I?6  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1685. 

man  could  stand  near  to  those  two  and  escape 
censure.  William  Penn  was  a  good  man,  but 
when  he  was  at  court  he  had  to  mingle  with  a 
hard  crowd.*  Still  in  all  his  intercourse  with 
James,  and  amidst  all  the  venality,  cruelty,  and 
heartlessness  of  the  court,  Penn's  character 
shines  out  of  its  base  surroundings,  a  diamond 
in  a  setting  of  brass.  There  was  never  a  time 
when  the  Quaker's  voice  and  influence  were  not 
for  mercy  and  religious  toleration,  and  in  spite 
of  the  malicious  slanders  of  his  enemies,  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  court  he  frequented  left  no  stain 
on  his  hands.  Well  was  it  for  the  persecuted 
non-conformists, — Baptist,  Methodist,  Presby- 
terian, and  Quaker  alike — that  in  such  perilous 
times,  in  that  long  dark  night  of  proscription 
and  persecution,  the  dungeon,  the  fagot,  and 
the  block,  they  had  one  friend  of  influence  at 
the  Stuarts'  elbow.  It  may  be  true  that  Penn's 
colony  suffered  while  he  was  at  court,  but  none 
the  less  did  he  suffer,  and  the  loss  of  free  Penn- 
sylvania was  the  gain  of  English  dissent. 

*  He  was  very  good.  Even  his  best  friends  and  apologists 
admit  this.  On  one  occasion  while  he  was  preaching,  some  of 
his  enthusiastic  admirers  in  the  congregation  made  a  rush  at 
him,  shouting,  "Oh,  kill  him,  kill  him!  He  is  too  good  to 
live!" 


JEt.  41.]    THE  GALLOWS  AND  THE  FAGGOT.         l?J 

But  James  and  his  court  were  deaf  to  all 
promptings  of  humanity,  and  punished  the  de- 
feated rebels  with  malignant  cruelty.  In  trans- 
porting them,  they  sent  the  poor  Whigs  and 
dissenters  to  the  High  Tory  and  Catholic  owners 
of  unhealthful  West  India  islands,  where  the 
exiles  would  find  the  climate  and  their  rulers 
equally  uncomfortable.  Not  more  than  twenty 
were  permitted  to  go  to  Pennsylvania,  or  any 
other  settlement  tinctured  with  humanity.  Cor- 
nish, an  ex-sheriff  of  London,  was  gibbeted  be- 
fore his  own  house,  as  the  accomplice  of  Sidney 
and  Russell.  Penn  vainly  begged  for  his  life, 
and  stood  near  him  when  he  died,  and  after  his 
death  boldly  vindicated  his  memory  from  the 
savage  accusations  made  against  him.  Through 
his  influence  the  mutilated  limbs  of  Cornish, 
scattered  about  after  his  execution,  were  gathered 
up  and  restored  to  his  friends.  From  the  exe- 
cution of  the  ex-sheriff,  Penn  went  to  Tyburn  to 
see  Elizabeth  Gaunt  burned  at  the  stake  for 
harboring  a  rebel  in  her  house.  Until  the  pit- 
iless flames  silenced  her,  she  declared  her  inno- 
cence, and  Penn,  who  had  interceded  with  all 
his  power  for  her  life,  could  only  stand  near 
her  to  catch  her  protestations  and  carry  them 


1/8  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1685. 

back  to  the  King,  there  to  quote  them  as  argu- 
ments against  other  executions. 

But  for  all  these  words  and  works  of  mercy 
the  court  and  the  creatures  of  James  did  not 
love  Penn,  and  to  punish  him  for  what  they 
deemed  his  interference  with  executions,  banish- 
ments, and  the  general  extortion  of  ransoms, 
the  Crown  lawyers,  under  direction  of  the  min- 
ister, issued  a  quo  warranto*  against  his  pro- 
vince of  Pennsylvania,  and  compelled  him  to 
vacate  his  charter.  These  proceedings,  how- 
ever, were  summarily  stopped  by  the  King. 

Meanwhile,  the  more  James  expressed  his  op- 
position to  all  penal  laws  against  religious  of- 
fences, the  more  the  Church  of  England  sus- 
tained and  approved  them.  The  repeal  of  the 
Test  Act  meant  toleration  for  Catholics  as  well 
as  dissenting  Protestants,  and  it  was  apparent 
to  the  churchmen  that  James,  caring  nothing 
for  the  Baptist,  Methodist,  or  Quaker,  was  only 
paving  the  way  for  the  subversion  of  the  estab- 
lished church  and  the  reintroduction  of  Popery 

f      *  A  dreadful  thing.     It  had  a  big  knob  at  one  end,   and  a  I 
/   sharp  point  at  the  other,  with  great  lumps  and  spikes  all  the  / 
/     way  between,  and  was  as  long  as  a  stick  of  wood     It  was  much  / 
used  in  the  time  of  James.  ./ 


^Et.  41.]  TOO  MUCH   TOLERATION.  1/9 

as  the  state  religion,  and  then — the  liberal,  un- 
fettered toleration  which  the  Catholic  Church, 
in  countries  where  it  was  in  power,  granted  all 
Protestant  denominations  would  be  enjoyed  in 
England.  The  churchmen,  seeing  James  sur- 
rounded by  ultra-papists  and  Jesuits,  were  al- 
ready looking  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and 
James,  seeing  this  and  knowing  its  significance, 
told  William  Penn  that  if  he  was  going  on  a 
missionary  tour  through  Holland  by  and  by,  he 
had  a  message  he  wished  him  to  carry  to  the 
Hague. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  WAY  OF  THE   MACHINE. 


CERT'NLY,"  said  Penn,  "  and  it  is  a 
most  singular  coincidence.  I  was  just  this 
minute  thinking  I  would  run  over  to  Holland  and 
rub  up  my  Dutch  a  little.  I  understand  a  tribe 
of  Pennsylvania-Dutch  Indians  have  been  dis- 
covered out  near  Doylestown  in  my  province, 
(and  I  want  to  be  able  to  talk  to  them  like  a 
Kansas  land-agent  when  I  go  back."  j  And  he 
cleared  for  Holland  the  next  day,  with  a  mixed 
cargo  of  religion  and  politics,  —  largely  politics, 
with  enough  religion  in  the  hold  for  a  good 
moral  ballast.  As  the  informal  envoy  of  James, 
he  was  to  tell  William  of  Orange  that  his  good 
father-in-law  was  a  liberal  man  and  a  Christian  ; 
that  he  opposed  all  religious  tests  and  penal 
laws  ;  he  believed  in  perfect  religious  liberty 
and  an  unfettered  public  and  private  conscience, 
and  he  wanted  to  know  what  opinions  the  gen- 
tleman from  the  Hague  held  on  these  matters, 


^Et.  42.]       A  PRINCE  ON  THE  TEST  ACT.  l8l 

and  also  what  he  would  take  to  aid  this  liberaf 
king  to  pass  an  act  of  toleration  for  all  creeds 
and  opinions,  and  obtain  a  repeal  of  the  Test  Act. 

The  gentleman  from  the  Hague  thought  he 
rather  understood  his  father-in-law.  He  had 
ge-married  once  into  dot  femilies  already,  und 
of  he  was  his  beesness  geknowen,  it  was  taken 
a  bigger  man  than  his  fader-un-law  und  diesen 
archiquaecker  to  pullen  de  eyes  over  his  wool. 
He  intimated  that  if  his  father-in-law  ever  did  a 
good  thing,  it  was-  from  a  bad  motive  ;  he  knew 
the  family  all  through,  his  wife  was  a  Stuart, 
and  he  could  see  clear  through  James's  little 
game.  As  for  himself,  he  declared  "  dot  he  was 
an  Englander  ge-born,  und  he  vas  opposet  auf 
some  foreign  dominations  on  English  affairs, 
und  he  would  not  haf  some  of  it.  Dot's  bees- 
ness,"  said  William  of  Orange  firmly,  like  the 
bold  Briton  that  he  was,  "  und  when  I  was  over 
de  Shannel  ge-kommen  you  was  wish  you  will 
leave  me  alone  dot  Test  Axes."  * 

When  he  %ad  discharged  his  cargo  of  politics, 


*  Penn  corrected  the  inflexible  Englishman,  saying,  "Test 
Act."  "Oh,"  replied  the  other  William,  "is  it  only  one?  I 
dhought  it  was  a  dozens  of  it.  Exes  or  hetchets,  it  makes  me 
no  difference." 


1 82  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1686. 

William  Penn  turned  his  attention  to  the  Eng- 
lish exiles  for  conscience'  sake,  the  native 
Quakers,  and  worked  up  a  good  emigration- 
scheme  for  the  province  of  Pennsylvania.  Penn 
was  a  man  literally  and  .zealously  "  diligent  in 
business,  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord." 
He  had  his  account  of  Pennsylvania,  a  document 
built  on  the  same  ground-plan  as  a  Nebraska 
B  and  M  land  circular  of  to-day,  translated  into 
Flemish  and  circulated  among  the  farmers;  he 
travelled  through  Holland  and  the  Rhineland, 
and  told  the  people  that  Pennsylvania  was  as  big 
as  a  prairie,  and  that  Germantown  was  next  to 
Philadelphia  and  easily  accessible  by  the  street- 
cars and  two  lines  of  railroad. 

When  he  returned  to  London,  he  sought  the 
ear  of  the  King,  and  found  it,*  and  filled  it  with 
petitions  for  the  pardon  of  exiled  Presbyterians 
and  other  dissenters.  When  Penn  entered  into 
controversy  with  an  opponent,  he  was  pitiless. 
When  he  hit  a  Presbyterian  preacher  with  a 
loaded  pamphlet,  that  Presbyteria»  went  right 
off  into  the  woods  and  lay  down  and  died. 
But  when  he  found  a  Presbyterian  or  any  other 

/      *  Right  on  the  King,  between  the  temporal  bone  and  the 
back  of  the  neck.    \ 


^Et.  42.]          A   DISTRESSED  BARONET.  183 

non-conformist  in  trouble,  he  had  oil  for  his 
wounds,  balm  for  his  hurts,  and  money  for  his 
hotel-bill.  Through  his  influence  many  exiles 
were  brought  back  to  their  homes.  Many 
of  these  men  and  their  children  remembered 
the  Quaker  most  gratefully  for  his  goodness 
of  heart.  Others  repaid  him  in  the  usual  coin 
of  the  world.  They  kicked  him  and  told  lies 
about  him,  and  were  only  pleased  with  him 
when  he  got  into  trouble.  Indiscriminate 
goodness  is  sometimes  a  mistake.  There  are 
some  men  whom,  if  you  see  them  drowning, 
it  is  best  to  let  drown,  without  interference. 
If  you  pulled  them  out  of  the  river,  they  would 
sue  you  at  law  for  laying  violent  hands  upon 
them.  This  is  especially  true  in  politics. 

Among  others  for  whom  he  secured  pardons 
was  Sir  Robert  Steuart  of  Coltness.  Penn  met 
him  in  London  after  his  return,  and  congratu- 
lated him  in  very  difficult  Latin,  at  which  Sir 
Robert  burst  into  tears,  knowing  he  could  not 
construe  it,  and  fearing  he  would  be  flogged  or 
kept  in  after  school. 

"Ah,  Mr.  Penn,"  he  sighed,  "the  Earl  of 
Arran  has  got  my  estate,  and  I  fear  my  situa- 
tion is  now  about  to  be  worse  than  ever." 


1 84  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1686. 

"What,  man !"  exclaimed  Penn,  "  is thee going 
to  lose  thy  job  ?  Come  to  my  house  to-morrow, 
and  I  will  set  matters  to  rights  for  thee." 

Penn  went  directly  to  Arran.  "  What  is  this, 
friend  James,"  he  said  to  him,  "  that  I  hear  of 
thee  ?  Thou  hast  taken  possession  of  Coltness's 
estate.  Thou  knowest  that  it  is  not  thine" 

"  That  estate,"  says  Arran,  "  I  paid  a  great 
price  for.  I  received  no  other  reward  for  my 
expensive  and  troublesome  embassy  in  France 
except  this  estate ;  and  I  am  certainly  much  out 
of  pocket  by  the  bargain." 

"  All  very  well,  friend  James,"  said  the  Qua- 
ker, "  but  of  this  assure  thyself,  that  if  thou  dost 
not  give  me  this  moment  an  order  on  thy  cham- 
berlain for  two  hundred  pounds  to  Coltness  to 
carry  him  down  to  his  native  country,  and 
a  hundred  a  year  to  subsist  on  till  matters  are 
adjusted,  I  will  make  it  as  many  thousands  out 
of  thy  way  with  the  King." 

Arran  instantly  complied,  and  Penn  sent  for 
Sir  Robert  and  gave  him  the  security.  After 
the  revolution  Sir  Robert,  with  the  rest,'  had 
full  restitution  of  his  estate;  and  Arran  was 
obliged  to  account  for  all  the  rents  he  had  re- 


JEt.  42.]     THE  LAYi-OF   THE   QUIT  RENTS.          185 

ceived,  against  which  this  payment  only  was 
allowed  to  be  stated. 

This  authentic  narrative  from  the  Earl  of 
Buchan's  writings  beautifully  illustrates  Wil- 
liam Penn's  fine  sense  of  honor  and  justice  when 
another  man  took  an  estate  from  one  of  his 
friends  to  reward  himself  for  political  services. 
Just  why  it  never  occurred  to  him  to  apply  this 
principle  to  the  estates  of  the  Penn  family 
in  Ireland,  acquired  in  a  similar  manner  alike 
from  the  commonwealth  and  the  monarchy, 
from  Cromwell  and  Charles,  for  political  in- 
trigues and  hard  fighting  on  both  sides, — is  a 
question  which  lack  of  space  forbids  us  to  dis- 
cuss. But  perhaps  he  didn't  have  time.  And 
then,  Penn  was  an  Englishman  and  his  confis- 
cated estates  were  in  Ireland  and  naturally  didn't 
count,  at  that  time — nor  at  any  other  time. 

All  was  not  well  at  this  time  over  in  the 
province  he  loved,  a^nd  his  heaviest  troubles  lay 
in  the  city  that  was  nearest  his  heart.  The 
province  was  prosperous,  and  well  able  to  sup- 
port its  Governor;  certainly  it  could  well  afford 
to  pay  its  honest  obligations.  But  so  long  as 
Penn  had  plenty  of  money,  he  had  supported 


1 86  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1686. 

himself  and  family,  and  maintained  the  provin- 
cial court  at  his  own  expense,  and  the  freemen 
of  the  province  were  disposed  to  let  him  go  on 
in  the  same  way  the  remainder  of  his  term. 
And  at  any  rate,  they  were  not  going  to  pay 
any  "quit-rents."  The  original  terms  on  which 
Penn  sold  his  lands  in  Pennsylvania  were  forty 
shillings  in  money  and  an  annual  quit-rent  of 
one  shilling  for  every  hundred  acres.  Cheap 
enough,  it  would  seem,  but  the  thrifty  Pennsyl- 
vanian  protested  against  such  an  excessive  tax 
as  the  quit-rent  of  one  shilling  a  year  for  one 
hundred  acres  of  land. 

They  wouldn't,  or  at  least  they  didn't,  pay 
William  Penn  a  shilling,  nor  yet  a  penny,  of  his 
quit-rents.  On  this  very  subject,  writing  back 
to  the  province,  the  Governor  sayeth:  "that 
his  quit-rents  were  then  at  least  of  the  value  of 
five  hundred  pounds  a  year,  and  then  due, 
though  he  could  not  get  a  penny.  God  is  my 
witness,"  said  he,  "  I  lie  not.  I  am  above  six 
thousand  pounds  out  of  pocket  more  than  ever 
I  saw  by  the  province ;  and  you  may  throw  in 
my  pains,  cares,  and  hazard  of  life,  and  leaving 
of  my  family  and  friends  to  serve  them."  "  Be- 
sides," he  writes  again  from  London,  "  the  coun- 


JEt.  42.]      THE    GOVERNOR   WANTS    THEM.  l8/ 

try  think  not  of  my  supply  (and  I  resolve  never 
to  act  the  Governor,  and  keep  another  family 
and  capacity  on  my  private  estate),  if  my  table, 
cellar,  and  stable  may  be  provided  for,  with  a 
barge  and  yacht,  or  sloop,  for  the  service  of 
Governor  and  government,  I  may  try  to  get 
hence ;  for,  in  the  sight  of  God,  I  am  six  thou- 
sand pounds  and  more  behindhand,  more  than 
ever  I  received  or  saw  for  land  in  that  province. 
— There  is  nothing  my  soul  breathes  more  for 
in  this  world,  next  my  dear  family's  life,  than 
that  I  may  see  poor  Pennsylvania  again — but 
I  cannot  force  my  way  hence,  and  see  nothing 
done  on  that  side  inviting." 

It  is  estimated  that  by  this  time  Penn  had 
sold  about  one  million  acres  of  land,  for  which 
he  had  received  £20,000,  all  of  which,  and  £6,000 
out  of  his  own  pocket,  he  had  spent  in  and  on 
the  province,  in  presents  for  the  Indians  and 
payments  for  their  land,  and  in  other  public 
matters,  and  now  he  could  not  collect  his  quit- 
rents  from  the  colonists.  This  shows  what  kind, 
of  people  were  the  early  settlers  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. If  Penn  tells  the  truth,  not  one  solitary 
beggar  of  them,  Quaker  or  Gentile,  Jew,  Greek, 
or  barbarian,  paid  up  his  quit-rent,  for  he  declares 


1 88  WILLIAM  PENN..  [1686. 

he  "  could  not  get  one  penny."  No  wonder  he 
could  not  see  anything  on  this  side  "  inviting." 
The  early  settlers  of  Pennsylvania  did  not  be- 
lieve in  quit-rents.  There  was  an  air  of  feudal- 
ism about  that  sort  of  thing  which  they  resented. 
They  were  the  original  land-leaguers,  and  they 
Boycotted  their  own  Governor  and  benefactor, 
not  for  meanness,  but  on  principle. 

Worse  than  all  this,  his  agents  loaded  sight 
drafts  upon  the  poor  man,  and,  as  usual  in  such 
cases,  timed  them  so  they  would  reach  him  just 
when  he  was  so  short  that  if  the  whole  State  of 
Pennsylvania  were  offered  at  public  vendue  for 
a  ce.nt,  he  couldn't  buy  the  village  of  Kittan- 
ning. 

"  Now,"  he  writes  to  James  Harrison.  "  I 
pray  thee  to  draw  upon  me  no  more  for  one 
penny."  Then  he  gets  his  back  up  and  talks  just 
as  a  Baptist  would  talk  if  he  were  a  little  mad. 
After  complaining,  and  with  justice,  that  the 
Council  and  Assembly  omits  all  mention  of  his 
own  name  and  the  King's  in  its  official  acts,  he 
says :  "  Next,  I  do  desire  thee  to  let  no  more 
mention  be  made  of  the  supply,  though  'tis  a 
debt,  since  a  plain  contract  in  the  face  of  au- 
thority for  a  supply.  I  will  sell  my  shirt  off  my 


JEt.  42].     PENN  ELEVATES  HIS  SPINE.  189 

back,*  before  I  will  trouble  them  any  more.  I 
shall  keep  the  power  and  privileges  I  have  left 
to  the  pitch,  and  recover  the  rest  as  their  mis- 
behavior shall  forfeit  them  back  into  my  hands ; 
for  I  see  I  am  to  let  them  know  that  'tis  yet  in  my 
power  to  make  them  need  me  as  much  as  I  do 
their  supply  :  though  the  disappointment  of  me 
in  that,  with  above  .£1,000  bills  I  paid  since  my 
return,  have  kept  me  from  Pennsylvania  above 
all  other  things,  and  yet  may  do.  Nor  will  I 
ever  come  into  that  province  with  my  family  to 
spend  my  private  estate,  to  fill  up  and  discharge 
a  public  station,  and  so  add  more  wrongs  to. 
my  children.  This  is  no  anger,  though  I  am 
grieved,  but  a  cool  and  resolved  thought." 

It  is  just  as  well  that  William  explained  that 
he  was  not  angry,  for  he  talked  as  any  man 
not  a  Quaker  talks  when  he  is,  so  to  speak,  a 
"leetle  riled."  And  nobody  could  blame  him 
for  setting  up  his  bristles  a  trifle,  under  the 
circumstances.  At  any  rate,  he  put  his  foot 
down,  changed  the  form  of  the  executive  de- 
partment of  his  government,  appointing  five 
commissioners  to  act  in  his  behalf,  and  in- 

*  This  indicates  that  Penn  did  not  wear  shirts  that  buttoned 
behind. 


WILLIAM  PENN.  [1686. 

structed  them  to  keep  an  eye  on  the  Council 
and  Assembly,  to  abrogate  all  that  had  been 
done  in  his  absence  at  the  very  next  session 
of  the  Assembly,  and  dismiss  it  immediately, 
then  at  once  call  it  together  again  and  re- 
enact  such  laws  as  they  saw  fit ;  look  closely  to 
the  qualifications  of  members  of  both  houses, 
and  enact,  disannul,  or  vary  any  laws,  the  Gov- 
ernor himself  reserving  his  right  of  confirma- 
tion, and  all  his  "  peculiar  royalties  and  advan- 
tages." 

That  is  the  kind  of  republican  William  Penn 
was  when  the  Assembly  of  his  own  creation 
tried  to  leave  him  out.  There  was  something 
of  the  old  pamphlet  fire  still  left  in  him,  and  he 
thought  it  was  bad  enough  to  be  beat  out  of  his 
quit-rents,  without  being  crowded  out  of  the 
government.  And  with  all  these  perplexities 
and  troubles  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic 
weighing  upon  him,  Governor  Penn  felt  how 
true  was  the  remark  of  Friend  Shakespeare, 
"  Uneasy  lies  the  .head  that  has  to  manage  a 
mixed  colony  of  Quakers,  Baptists  (Deep-water 
and  Hard-shell),  Presbyterians  (Old  School, 
New  School,  Cumberland,  United,  and  Blue), 
Methodists  (P.  E.,  M.  E.,  North,  •  and  South), 


jEt.  42.]     DECLARATION  OF  INDULGENCE.  IQI 

Ranters  (Jumpers  and  Jerkers),  Episcopalians, 
Puritans,  Catholics,  English,  Irish,  Dutch,  Ger- 
mans, Swedes,  French,  Norwegians,  negroes, 
Welsh,  and  nineteen  kinds  of  Indians."  But 
still  he  did  not  lose  his  faith  in  Pennsylvania. 

Once  more  we  turn  from  the  troubles  of  the 
distant  province  to  merry  England,  where  mat- 
ters were  reaching  a  crisis.  James,  supported 
by  the  opinions  of  his  judges,  on  the  i8th  of 
March,  1687,  issued  the  royal  proclamation  sus- 
pending all  penal  laws  against  religious  offences, 
and  forbidding  the  application  of  any  test  or 
the  offer  of  any  oath  to  persons  who  were  ap- 
pointed or  elected  to  office  under  the  govern- 
ment. 

Had  this  declaration  of  indulgence  come 
from  any  but  a  Stuart,  the  people  of  England 
might  have  received  it  with  more  unanimous, 
grace.  But  the  better  James  acted,  the  people 
argued,  the  worse  he  really  was,  and  this  was 
perhaps  the  correct  estimate  of  this  monarch. 
That  he  was  sincere  in  his  efforts  to  establish 
the  religion  of  Rome  in  England,  no  one  doubts ; 
but  as  this  was  about  the  only  piece  of  sincerity 
in  his  character,  his  declaration  of  indulgence 
was  received  with  a  great  variety  of  emotions 


IQ2  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1687. 

and  sentiments.  There  were  also  grave  ele- 
ments of  civil  danger  in  the  declaration,  and 
the  English  people  generally  looked  upon  the 
act  with  distrust. 

But  all  the  same  the  poor  dissenters  who  had 
been  spending  their  valuable  time  in  prisons 
and  looking  out  upon  the  glad  free  sunshine 
between  iron  bars,  thought  the  declaration 
that  flung  open  their  prison-doors  was  the 
very  document  needed  to  fill  a  long-felt  want. 
And  the  poor  creatures  swarmed  up  to  the 
throne  with  long,  tiresome  "addresses,"  by 
reading  which  they  evidently  hoped  to  kill  the 
King,  and  thus  be  able  to  enjoy  their  freedom 
without  the  distressing  encumbrance  of  being 
grateful  to  anybody  for  it.  They  thanked  the 
King  who  had  "heard  the  cries  of  his  suffering 
subjects  for  conscience'  sake,"  after  the  afore- 
said sufferers  had  been  howling  in  his  ears 
nearly  two  years,  and  "  since  it  pleased  the  King 
out  of  his  great  compassion  to  commiserate 
their  afflicted  condition,"  when  the  very  dogs 
in  the  street  pitied  them  and  the  dumb  stones 
of  their  prisons  cried  out  against  their  persecu- 
tion, and  since  "  he  gives  his  dissenting  subjects" 
that  they  may  say  their  prayers  without  taking 


jEt.  42.]  HATS  OFF  ALL  ROUND.  193 

a  book  to  church  to  read  them  from,  and  be- 
cause "  his  most  gracious  Majesty  the  King 
had,"  for  some  inexplicable  but  undoubtedly 
selfish  and  wicked  reason,  performed  an  act 
of  ordinary  humanity  and  common  decency, 
so  unusual  in  his  family, — then  they  were  for- 
ever more  his  obliged,  peaceable,  loving,  and 
faithful  subjects,  who  had  rather  be  kicked  by  a 
lord  than  shake  hands  with  an  honest  carpenter, 
any  day,  and  were  going  to  show  their  eternal 
and  supreme  gratitude  to  their  most  gracious 
King  just  as  soon  as  they  could  get  a  good 
whack  at  him,  which  would  be  when  that 
gallant  English  prince,  Wilhelm  von  Orange, 
arrived. 

In  the  excess  of  their  joy  and  gratitude,  when 
they  went  up  with  their  address,  the  Quakers 
even  agreed  to  "  waive  the  ceremony  of  the 
hat,"  and,  headed  by  William  Penn,  the  deputa- 
tion entered  the  royal  presence  bareheaded. 

Penn  felt  so  good  over  this  declaration,  in  the 
proclamation  of  which  he  is  said  to  have  had 
great  influence,  that  he  wrote  a  pamphlet,  and 
called  it  "  Good  Advice  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, Roman  Catholic,  and  Protestant  Dissen- 
ter, In  which  it  is  Endeavored  to  be  Made  Ap- 


194  WILLIAM  FENN.  [1688. 

pear  that  it  is  their  Duty  with  a  big  D,  princi- 
ple with  a  large  P,  and  Interest  with  a  capital  I, 
to  Abolish  the  penal  Laws  and  Tests."  The 
title  was  originally  much  longer  and  covered 
both  backs  of  the  pamphlet,  and  people  thought 
the  good  old  times  were  come  again.  William 
Penn's  pamphlets  must  have  been  a  source  of 
unfailing  joy  to  the  printer,  (for  he  wrote  a  free, 
easy,  untrammelled  hand,  like  the  clambering 
woodbine  as  it  corkscrews  up  aji  erratic  water- 
elm.  Something  like  Mr.  Greeley's  copper- 
plate text  when  he  was  in  a  hurry  and  didn't 
feel  very  well.  J 

When  Penn  wasn't  at  court,  he  was  preach- 
ing, and  as  he  wasn't  away  from  court  much  of 
the  time  now,  he  took  advantage  of  his  attend- 
ance on  the  King  in  his  progress  through  Berk, 
Gloucester,  Worcester,  Shrop,  Che,  Stafford, 
Warwick,  Oxford,  and  Hamp  Shire,  to  hold  a 
few  meetings  by  the  way,  one  of  which,  at 
Chester,  the  King  attended.* 

Penn  now  "  viewed  with  alarm"  the  situation 
at  Whitehall,  where  the  Jesuits  had  a  control- 
ling and  growing  interest,  and  if  he  was  influen- 

*  It  did  not  appear  to  do  him  any  good,  however. 


JEt.  43.]  A  MUTUAL  FRIEND.  !$$ 

tial  in  bringing  about  the  Declaration  of  Indul- 
gence, he  began  to  see  that  he  had  invoked 
a  spirit,  so  to  speak,  "as  wouldn't  curry  nor 
skeer,"  and  he  didn't  know  what  to  do  with  it. 
In  vain  he  approached  the  King  with  his  boldest 
expostulations,  and  told  him  the  nation  was  not 
only  alarmed,  but  indignant.  His  influence 
was  overborne  by  the  Jesuit  friends  of  James, 
who  pressed  him  to  obtain  for  Catholics  a 
footing  in  the  Universities.  With  this  object  in 
view,  a  pretext  was  easily  found  for  prosecuting 
and  dismissing  Dr.  Peachey  from  his  office  in 
Cambridge,  and  when  the  presidency  of  Mag- 
dalen College  was  vacant  (  James  named  An- 
thony Farmer  for  election,  and  the  Fellows 
promptly  elected  Dr.  Hough?\  James  censured 
the  heads  of  colleges  for  disobedience,  and 
ordered  a  new  election,  which  the  Fellows  did 
not  hold.  Both  parties  continuing  obstinate, 
Penn  casually  dropped  in  to  the  quarrel  as 
mutual  friend  and  arbitrator.  The  Quaker  was 
convinced  that  the  Fellows  were  in  the  right : 
they  could  not  yield  without  an  evident  breach 
of  their  oaths.  The  King's  mandates  were  a 
force  on  conscience,  and  contrary  therefore  to 
the  King's  own  intentions.  Thus  he  wrote  to 


1 96  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1688. 

the  King,  fand  the  collegians  themselves  de- 
livered the  letter  to  his  majesty,  to  save  postage.) 

His  majesty  was  obstinate,  and  believed  it 
impossible  for  churchmen  to  oppose  the  royal 
will.  And,  indeed,  they  would  not  when  it 
coincided  with  their  own.  Oxford  preached 
passive  obedience  when  the  axe  and  the  Tower 
waited  only  for  dissenting  and  commonwealth 
subjects.  It  was  another  thing  when  her  own 
privileges  were  threatened.  Penn  still  made 
efforts  to  reconcile  the  opposing  forces.  But 
while  he  felt  the  Fellows  were  right,  and  would 
not  advise  complete  submission,  he  did  insist 
that  the  King's  self-love  should  be  gratified  a 
little;  that  his  majesty  did  not  like  to  be 
thwarted,  and  the  dispute  had  gone  on  so  long, 
they  could  not  hope  to  be  restored  to  the 
royal  favor  without  making  some  concessions. 
Hough  and  the  Fellows  declared  they  had  done 
all  that  was  consistent  with  honesty  and  con- 
science, and  besides  they  had  a  religion  to  de- 
fend. The  Papists  had  already  gotten  Christ- 
church  and  University  colleges.  The  present 
struggle  was  for  Magdalen,  and  in  a  short  time 
they  threatened  they  would  have  the  rest. 

"That,"  says  Penn,  "they  shall  never  have, 


jEt.  43.]    MAGDALEN  COLLEGE  IN  TROUBLE.      IQ? 

assure  yourselves.  If  once  they  proceed  so  far, 
they  will  quickly  find  themselves  destitute  of 
their  present  assistance.  For  my  part,  I  have 
always  declared  my  opinion  that  the  prefer- 
ments of  the  church  should  not  be  put  into  any 
other  hands  but  such  as  they  at  present  are  in ; 
but  I  hope  you  would  not  have  the  two  Univer- 
sities such  invincible  bulwarks  for  the  Church  of 
England  that  none  but  they  must  be  capable  of 
giving  their  children  a  learned  education.  I 
suppose  two  or  three  colleges  will  content  the 
Papists.  Christchurch  is  a  noble  structure; 
University  is  a  pleasant  place,  and  Magdalen 
College  is  a  comely  building." 

The  Fellows  opposed  Penn's  more  liberal 
ideas,  and  then  the  King  most  graciously  re- 
lieved him  from  any  further  mediation  by 
ejecting  the  Fellows  from  the  college,  and 
stripping  them  of  their  honors  and  preferments. 

James,  confident  that  Oxford  and  the  church 
would  loyally  adhere  to  the  doctrine  of  passive 
obedience  taught  by  themselves,  renewed  the 
Declaration  of  Indulgence  in  April,  and  prom- 
ised that  Parliament  should  meet  in  November. 
He  issued  an  order  in  council,  directing  that  the 
Declaration  should  be  read  in  all  churches. 


198  f WILLIAM  PENN.  [1688. 

Half  a  dozen  bishops  disobeyed  the  royal 
order,  in  violation  of  their  own  tenet  of  passive 
obedience,  and  were  committed  to  the  Tower. 
When  they  came  up  for  trial  they  were  trium- 
phantly acquitted,  and  the  country  applauded. 
That  gallant  English  prince,  William  of  Orange, 
came  over  with  a  large  assortment  of  armed 
Dutchmen.  James  sat  down  to  count  his  friends 
on  his  fingers,  and  finding  he  had  about  four 
thumbs  more  than  were  necessary  for  a  full 
tally-sheet,  stayed  not  upon  the  order  of  his 
emigrating,  but  got  him  hence  and  into  France 
with  great  speed  and  utter  disregard  of  the 
customs  proprieties. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ANOTHER  LIE  NAILED! 

'"T^HE  historian  and  biographer  of  to-day,  as 
•*•  in  all  times,  find  it  much  easier  to  locate 
the  beam  in  their  grandfather's  eyes  than  to  ex- 
tract the  mote  from  their  own  or  their  neigh- 
bor's optics,  although  the  mote  of  to-day  con- 
cerns the  present  world  far  more  than  does  the 
beam  of  yesterday.  We  look  with  horror  and 
indignation  at  the  wickedness,  cruelty,  super- 
stition, and  general  depravity  of  the  courts  of 
the  Stuarts,  when  we  write  or  read  our  his- 
tories, and  forget,  in  the  contemplation  of  by- 
gone evils,  the  dishonesty  of  our  own  day,  the 
scheming  trickery  that  too  often  dishonors  poli- 
tics and  degrades  statecraft  to  the  level  of  the 
pot-house  caucus.  We  remember  Jeffreys,  and 
forget  the  vile  assassin  who  slew  our  own  Presi- 
dent; with  unutterable  loathing  we  read  how 
the  bones  of  Cromwell  were  dragged  from  the 
sacred  rest  of  the  grave  by  the  cavaliers  whom 


200  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1688. 

he  had  winnowed  like  chaff  while  he  lived,  and 
forget  the  viler  wretches  who  in  our  own  day 
snarl  in  ghoulish  hate  about  the  grave  of  Gar- 
field,  and  with  shameless  malice  seek  to  blacken 
his  character  before  the  crape  is  taken  from  the 
doors  of  the  Capitol. 

So  Macaulay,  writing  in  his  time,  found  it  an 
easy  matter  to  bring  startling  charges  against 
William  Penn.  Penn  was  a  good  man,  honest, 
conscientious,  brave,  and  rather  unfortunate  in 
having  for  his  friends  such  rascals  as  Charles 
and  James.  And  yet,  while  his  enemies  have 
urged  this  against  him,  there  were  some  reasons 
for  this  friendship,  especially  between  Penn  and 
James.  When  James,  then  Duke  of  York,  was 
commander  of  the  fleet,  Penn's  father  was  his 
bravest  and  best  sailor,  his  trusted  Admiral. 
Penn's  father  was  intriguing  for  the  restoration 
of  Charles  all  the  time  he  was  drawing  pay  and 
begging  estates  from  Cromwell,  and  he  was  the 
first  man  to  welcome  the  graceless  Stuart  to  his 
fleet.  And  for  all  this  faithful  service  to  them, 
the  (royal  brothers  loved  Admiral  Penn,  and 
borrowed  money  of  him  as  long  as  they  could 
tap  him.  ^  For  his  sake  they  loved  his  son,  and 
when  they  owed  him  .£16,000,  they  made  him 


jEt.  43.]  THE  MACAULAY  CHARGES.  2OI 

take  his  pay  in  'wild  lands  in  Pennsylvania,  that 
Penn  himself  declares  cost  him  more  than  he 
ever  got  out  of  them.  |The  brothers  loved  him, 
and  swindled  himjand  if  any  one  can  see  where- 
in Penn  was  under  any  obligations  to  James,  or 
why  he  should  be  a  bosom  friend  of  that  mon- 
arch, his  keen  insight  into  human  motives  should 
be  a  great  comfort  to  him. 

Macauiay  himself,  like  the  pugilist  who  shakes 
hands  with  his  antagonist  before  he  breaks  his 
head,  says : 

"  To  speak  the  whole  truth  concerning  Penn 
is  a  task  which  requires  some  courage ;  for  he 
is  rather  a  mythical  than  a  historical  person. 
Rival  nations  and  hostile  sects  have  agreed  in 
canonizing  him.  England  is  proud  of  his  name. 
A  great  commonwealth  beyond  the  Atlantic 
regards  him  with  a  reverence  similar  to  that 
which  the  Athenians  felt  for  Theseus,  and  the 
Romans  for  Quirinus.  The  respectable  society 
of  which  he  was  a  member  honors  him  as  an 
apostle.  By  pious  men  of  other  persuasions  he 
is  generally  regarded  as  a  bright  pattern  of 
Christian  virtue.  Meanwhile,  admirers  of  a 
very  different  sort  have  sounded  his  praises. 
The  French  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 


202  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1688. 

tury  pardoned  what  they  regarded  as  his  super- 
stitious fancies  in  consideration  of  his  contempt 
for  priests,  and  of  his  cosmopolitan  benevolence, 
impartially  extended  to  all  races  and  to  all 
creeds.  His  name  has  thus  become,  through- 
out all  civilized  countries,  a  synonym  for  prob- 
ity and  philanthropy. 

"  Nor  is  this  high  reputation  altogether  un- 
merited. Penn  was  without  doubt  a  man  of 
eminent  virtues.  He  had  a  strong  sense  of  re- 
ligious duty,  and  a  fervent  desire  to  promote 
the  happiness  of  mankind.  On  one  or  two 
points  of  high  importance  he  had  notions  more 
correct  than  were  in  his  day  common,  even 
among  men  of  enlarged  minds ;  and  as  the  pro- 
prietor and  legislator  of  a  province,  which,  be- 
ing almost  uninhabited  when  it  came  into  his 
possession,  afforded  a  clear  field  for  moral  ex- 
periments, he  had  the  rare  good  fortune  of 
being  able  to  carry  his  theories  into  practice 
without  any  compromise,  and  yet  without  any 
shock  to  existing  institutions.  He  will  always 
be  mentioned  with  honor  as  the  founder  of  a 
colony  who  did  not,  in  his  dealings  with  a  sav- 
age people,  abuse  the  strength  derived  from 
civilization,  and  as  a  lawgiver  who,  in  an  age  of 


yEt.  43-1          THE  MACAULAY  CHARGES.  20$ 

persecution,  made  religious  liberty  the  corner- 
stone of  a  polity.  But  his  writings  and  his  life 
furnish  abundant  proofs  that  he  was  not  a  man 
of  strong  sense.  He  had  no  skill  in  reading  the 
characters  of  others.  His  confidence  in  persons 
less  virtuous  than  himself  led  him  into  great 
errors  and  misfortunes.  His  enthusiasm  for 
one  great  principle  sometimes  impelled  him  to 
violate  other  great  principles  which  he  ought  to 
have  held  sacred.  Nor  was  his  integrity  alto- 
gether proof  against  the  temptations  to  which 
it  was  exposed  in  that  splendid  and  polite  but 
deeply  corrupted  society  with  which  he  now 
mingled.  The  whole  court  was  in  a  ferment 
with  intrigues  of  gallantry  and  intrigues  of  am- 
bition. The  traffic  in  honors,  places,  and  par- 
dons was  incessant.  It  was  natural  that  a  man 
who  was  daily  seen  at  the  palace,  and  who  was 
known  to  have  free  access  to  majesty,  should  be 
frequently  importuned  to  use  his  influence  for 
purposes  which  a  rigid  morality  must  condemn. 
The  integrity  of  Penn  had  stood  firm  against 
obloquy  and  persecution.  But  now,  attacked 
by  royal  smiles,  by  female  blandishments,  by 
the  insinuating  eloquence  and  delicate  flattery 
of  veteran  diplomatists  and  courtiers,  his  resolu- 


2O4  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1688. 

fion  began  to  give  way.  Titles  and  phrases 
against  which  he  had  often  borne  his  testimony 
dropped  occasionally  from  his  lips  and  pen.  It 
would  be  well  if  he  had  been  guilty  of  nothing 
worse  than  such  compliances  with  the  fashions 
of  the  world.  Unhappily,  it  cannot  be  con- 
cealed that  he  bore  a  chief  part  in  some  transac- 
tions condemned  not  merely  by  the  society  to 
which  he  belonged,  but  by  the  general  sense  of 
all  honest  men.  He  afterward  solemnly  pro- 
tested that  his  hands  were  pure  from  illicit  gain, 
and  that  he  never  received  any  gratuity  from 
those  whom  he  had  obliged,  though  he  might 
easily,  while  his  influence  at  court  lasted,  have 
made  120,000  pounds.  To  this  assertion  full 
credit  is  due.  But  bribes  may  be  offered  to 
vanity  as  well  as  cupidity,  and  it  is  impossible 
to  deny  that  Penn  was  cajoled  into  bearing  a 
part  in  some  unjustifiable  transactions  of  which 
others  enjoyed  the  profits." 

Thus  we  see  how  Penn  was  impaled  on  the 
quill  of  the  great  essayist  because  he  forgot 
what  he  had  so  often  scrawled  in  his  copy-book 
at  the  grammar-school  in  Chigwell,  "  Evil  com- 
munications corrupt  good  manners."  He 
trained  in  a  hard  crowd,  and  people  naturally 


^Et.  43-]  THE  MACAULAY  CHARGES.  2O5 

wondered  what  a  good  inan  could  be  doing  at 
the  court  of  James.  Still,  it  was  very  necessary 
for  one  honest  man  to  be  near  the  King,  and  in 
forming  its  judgment  mankind  must  remember 
that  one  greater  and  better  and  wiser  than 
William  Penn  had  also  eaten  with  publicans  and 
sinners.  Penn,  however,  while  he  seemed  to 
mingle  freely  enough  with  the  sinners,  didn't 
waste  much  time  on  the  publicans.  Nothing 
under  a  King  for  Governor  Penn. 

In  libelling  a  better  man  than  himself,  Macau- 
lay  formulates  his  charges  in  five  counts : 

I.  That  Penn's  connection  with  the  court  of 
James  caused    his  own  Society  of  Friends  to 
look  on  him  coldly  and  treat  him  with  obloquy. 

II.  That  he  accepted  the  royal  mission  to  ex- 
tort money  from  the  girls  of  Taunton  for  the 
Maids  of  Honor. 

III.  That  he  allowed  himself  to  be  employed 
in  the  work  of  seducing  Kiffin  into  compliance 
with  the  designs  of  the  court. 

IV.  That  he  sought  to  secure  William's  as- 
sent to  the  edict  of  James,  suspending  the  penal 
laws.     And 

V.  That  he  endeavored  to  seduce  the  Fellows 
of  Magdalen  College  from  the  path  of  right. 


206  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1688. 

These  charges  have  been  satisfactorily  met  at 
every  point,  and  refuted  by  Dixon  and  others, 
and  still  more  ably  and  fully  by  Samuel  M. 
Janney  in  his  most  excellent  "Life  of  Penn," 
and  Penn's  character  is  made  to  shine  only  the 
more  brightly  by  the  vigorous  polishing  it  re- 
ceived at  the  hands  of  Macaulay.  On  the  first 
count,  that  "  Penn's  own  sect  regarded  him  with 
coldness,"  it  is  more  than  probable  that  some  of 
them  did.  Even  Clarkson  thinks  that  many  of 
the  Friends  thought  he  meddled  too  much  in 
politics.  But  these  were  Friends  who  were  out 
of  prison.  Whenever  a  zealous  Quaker  found 
himself  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  lock,  he  im- 
mediately became  convinced  that  William  Penn 
at  court  was  the  right  man  in  the  right  place, 
and  that  he  was  doing  the  cause  of  religious 
liberty  more  good  by  standing  at  the  King's 
elbow  and  saying  a  good  word  for  the  im- 
prisoned Quakers  than  he  could  accomplish  in 
any  other  way.  And  as  the  majority  of  the 
Quakers  were  in  prison,  it  is  evident  that  Penn 
stood  well  in  the  esteem  and  affections  of  the 
greater  part  of  his  Society.  That  some  of  them 
may  have  censured  him,  and  did  not  treat  him 
kindly  or  justly,  is  very  probable ;  that  many  of 


JEt.  43.]  THE   SALE   OF  PARDONS.  2O? 

them  did  not  pay  their  quit-rents  is  beyond  all 
dispute,  on  Penn's  own  testimony ;  and  that  the 
Friends  are  just  as  good  as  other  people,  and 
some  of  them  much  better  than  some  other  peo- 
ple, is  a  well-known  fact.  If  William  Penn  was 
at  all  times  universally  and  faultlessly  popular 
with  all  members  of  his  own  Society,  it  is  the 
first  and  only  case  of  the  kind  on  record.  There 
was  a  Judas  even  among  the  Twelve.  So  it  was 
no  very  serious  matter  that  some  of  the  Friends 
did  not  believe  Penn  to  be  a  bit  of  earthly  per- 
fection. There  are  no  perfect  men  in  this 
world.  There  never  was  but  one,  and  people 
hated  him  and  crucified  him. 

The  affair  of  extorting  money  from  the  girls 
of  Taunton  was  simply  this.  When  Monmouth 
arrived  at  Taunton  in  his  revolt  against  James, 
that  town  was  enthusiastically  rebellious,  and 
the  school-mistress  led  a  procession  of  her  pupils 
to  meet  him,  and  presented  him  a  set  of  royal 
standards.  Some  of  the  little  girls  in  the  pro- 
cession were  not  over  ten  years  old.  None  the 
less  they  were  rebels,  and  the  sentence  of  death 
hung  over  them.  It  was  one«of  the  refined  cus- 
toms of  the  court  of  James  to  divide  the  rebels 
among  the  King's  friends,  for  transportation  or 


208  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1688. 

ransom,  according  as  the  friend  wanted  colonists 
for  his  plantations  over  the  sea,  or  ready  money. 
"  The  Queen  begged  one  hundred  for  some 
favorite  whose  name  is  not  preserved,"  "Sir 
Philip  Howard  received  two  hundred,"  "  Sir 
Richard  White  two  hundred,  and  two  other 
knights  received  one  hundred  each."  So  the 
poor  wretches  were  distributed  around  like 
merchandise,  and  the  friend  who  received  this 
gift  of  men,  women,  and  children  set  ransoms 
on  their  heads,  and  wrung  their  freedom  or 
money  or  life  away  from  them. 

While  all  the  others  were  getting  so  much 
out  of  this  traffic,  the  female  persons  of  the 
court — called,  by  a  ghastly  sarcasm,  Maids  of 
Honor — proposed  to  hypothecate  a  few  par- 
dons themselves.  The  King  gave  them  these 
Taunton  school-girls,  and  the  alleged  maids  of 
so-called  honor  began  to  manipulate  their  little 
corner.  The  maids  had  some  trouble  in  get- 
ting the  matter  arranged,  as  all  the  men  to 
whom  was  offered  the  mission  of  managing  the 
sale  of  pardons  in  the  case  of  these  school-girls 
refused  to  be  mixe^i  up  in  the  business,  until  a 
man  named  George  Penne  was  found,  a  profes- 
sional pardon-broker,  who  officiated  in  this  rob- 


J£.t.  43.]       THE   CASE   OF  ELDER  KIFFIN.  2OQ 

bery.     William  Penn,  on  the  best  evidence,  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  shameful  transaction.* 

As  for  William  Kiffin,  he  was  a  Baptist 
preacher,  and  an  old  opponent  of  Penn's.  In 
his  anxiety  to  do  good  that  evil  might  come, 
James  was  doing  all  he  could  to  secure  the 
adhesion  of  dissenting  subjects,  and  therefore 
appointed  William  Kiffin  a  city  magistrate. 
But  this  most  liberal  and  tolerant  monarch  had 
just  beheaded  two  of  Elder  Kiffin's  grandsons 
for  expressing  their  views  on  religious  liberty 
by  joining  Monmouth's  army,  and  it  was  feared 
that  the  old  man  might  not  be  anxious  to  accept 
office  under  the  murderer  of  his  boys.  A 
grandfather  of  any  sensibility  naturally  would 
feel  a  little  delicate  about  it.  Kiffin  came  to 
Penn  to  ask  him  that  he  "  might  be  excused," 
or  else  Penn  went  to  Kiffin  to  advise  him  not  to 
throw  over  a  good  thing  when  he  had  it,  or 
Kiffin  and  Penn  came  to  each  other.  Macaulay 
states  positively,  as  he  states  everything  he  has 
occasion  to  say,  that  Penn  was  employed  by  the 
"heartless  and  venal  sycophants  of  the  court" 
to  seduce  Kiffin  into  the  acceptance  of  an  Al- 

*  But  only  think  of  the  crowd  he  was  associating  with,  six 
days  in  the  week! 


210  WILLIAM  PENN,  [1688. 

derman's  gown.  Kiffin  himself,  quoted  by  the 
defence,  says:  "A  great  temptation  attended 
me,  which  was  a  commission  from  the  King,  to 
be  one  of  the  Aldermen  of  the  city  of  London ; 
which,  as  soon  as  I  heard  of  it,  I  used  all  the 
diligence  I  could  to  be  excused,  both  by  some 
lords  near  the  King,  and  also  by  Sir  Nicholas 
Butler  and  William  Penn,  but  all  in  vain  ;  they 
said  they  knew  I  had  an  interest  that  would 
serve  the  King,  and  although  they  knew  that 
my  sufferings  had  been  great,  by  the  cutting  off 
of  my  two  grandsons  and  losing  their  estates, 
yet  it  should  be  made  up  to  me,  both  as  to  their 
estates  and  also  in  what  honor  or  advantage  I 
could  reasonably  desire  for  myself."  *  If  Elder 
Kiffin  knows  what  he  is  talking  about,  it  would 
appear  to  a  man  up  a  tree  that  William  Penn 
did  advise  him  to  accept  office  under  the  King, 
who  would  pay  the  old  man  for  his  grandsons 
/at  the  ruling  rate  on  'Change,  and  on  the  usual 
terms  for  grandsons,  thirty  off  for  cash.\  If  any 
man  can  make  anything  else  out  of  Kiffin's 
statement,  which  is  the  only  evidence  quoted 
by  the  defence,  that  man  ought  to  rise  up  and 

*  Janney. 


jEt.  43.]          HIS  LITTLE   WEAKNESSES.  2 1 1 

tell  the  American  people  just  what  William's 
position  was  in  this  supremely  important  mat- 
ter (pf  Elder  Kiffin's  aldermania.) 

The  story  of  Penn's  connection  with  the 
Magdalen  College  affair  has  been  gone  over 
briefly  in  a  foregoing  chapter,  and  Samuel 
Janney's  exhaustive  researches  have  been  suf- 
ficient to  show  that  the  great  Quaker  had  clean 
hands  and  a  right  mind  in  all  this  matter,  and 
said  and  did  nothing  derogatory  to  his  charac- 
ter as  a  man  of  honor.  In  general,  the  Macau- 
lay  charges  fall  to  the  ground  in  the  light  of 
fair  investigation,  and  the  great  essayist  himself 
bears  willing  testimony  to  Penn's  "  eminent 
virtues,"  to  his  "  strong  sense  of  religious  duty," 
to  "  his  integrity  that  stood  firm  against  oblo- 
quy and  persecution ;"  as  "  a  lawgiver  who,  in 
an  age  of  persecution,  made  religious  liberty 
the  corner-stone  of  a  polity."  His  charge  that 
the  Quaker's  resolution  gave  way  when  at- 
tacked "  by  female  blandishments"  only  excites 
a  smile.  That  he  "  had  no  skill  in  reading  the 
characters  of  others,"  and  that  "  his  confidence 
in  persons  less  virtuous  than  himself  led  him 
into  great  errors  and  misfortunes,"  is  sadly 
true,  as  Penn  himself  learned  in  some  of  the  bit- 


212  WILLIAM  PENtf.  [1688. 

ter  experiences  of  his  old  age.  That  he  "  en- 
deavored to  gain  William's  assent  to  the  edict 
of  James,  suspending  the  penal  laws,"  is  not 
proved.  It  is  known  that  Penn,  much  as  he 
approved  of  the  widest  principles  of  religious 
liberty  embodied  in  that  proclamation,  rejoicing 
as  he  tlid  to  see  the  prison-doors  opened  by  it, 
feared  that  the  arbitrary  suspension  of  the  ob- 
noxious enactments  was  the  use  of  a  dangerous 
prerogative,  and  was  ever  anxious  to  have  the 
Declaration  sanctioned  by  Parliament.  William 
was  positively  and  most  certainly  a  good  man, 
but  he  would  dabble  in  politics.  And  no  man 
ever  yet  went  into  politics,  though  he  went  in 
not  more  than  knee-deep,  who  did  not  come  out 
plastered  with  mud  to  the  nape  of  his  neck. 
The  better  he  is,  the  more  mud  is  fired  at  him. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

CRUSHED  AGAIN! 

T  WILLIAM  PENN  did  not  attend  court  so 
•  *  regularly  now  as  he  was  used  to  do.  Most 
of  his  friends  at  court  had  gone  out  of  the  country, 
and  he  was  almost  the  only  man  who  had  been 
intimately  associated  with  James  who  did  not 
run  away.  He  knew  he  had  done  nothing  to 
run  for.  And  even  if  he  had,  Penn  was  not  the 
man  to  trust  in  his  legs,  and  he  feared  the  new 
King  no  more  than  he  had  feared  the  Tower 
and  Newgate  in  the  old  days  of  persecution. 
He  would  not  listen  to  his  friends  when  they 
urged  him  to  fly  to  America  and  look  after  his 
province.  He  did  not  even  change  his  address. 
He  remained  in  London  and  took  his  daily 
walks  in  Whitehall  as  usual. 

One  day  in  December  he  received  a  message 
informing  him  that  the  Lords  were  then  sitting, 
and  if  he  would  favor  them  with  his  attendance, 
they  would  like  to  propound  a  few  conundrums 


214  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1688. 

to  him.  When  a  man  received  a  message  of 
that  nature,  he  did  not  send  word  that  he  would 
walk  around  the  block  and  see  them  later.  If 
he  couldn't  get  over  to  France,  he  went  right 
along  with  the  messenger.  Penn  went  before 
the  Lords,  and  in  reply  to  the  numerous  ques- 
tions they  propounded  to  him  he  said  that  he 

d  ever  loved  his  country  and  Chesapeake 
oysters,)and  had  been  devoted  to  the  Protestant 
faith  and  the  colony  of  Pennsylvania,  and  had 
always  done  his  best  to  promote  the  true  inter- 
ests of  all  these  things.  The  recent  King,  he 
added,  had  been  his  friend  and  his  father's 
friend,  and  while  he  no  longer  owed  him  alle- 
giance as  a  subject,  owing  to  circumstances 
over  which  his  recent  majesty  appeared  to  have 
very  little  control,  yet  as  a  man  he  still  retained 
for  him  a  great  deal  more  respect  than  any 
member  of  that  family  ever  deserved.  He  had 
done  nothing,  and  should  do  nothing,  but  what 
he  was  willing  to  answer  for  before  God  and 
his  country. 

The  Lords  were  puzzled  what  to  do,  but  as  it 
appeared,  after  a  rigid  investigation,  that  Penn 
had  done  nothing  for  which  he  could  be  held, 
they  decided  to  hold  him  under  bail  of  £6,000, 


^Et  45.]      THE  KING  AND    THE  CHURCH.  21$ 

and  with  this  pleasant  reminder  of  prosecution 
and  more  trouble,  he  was  allowed  to  roam  at 
large.  His  case  was  continued  from  term  to 
term  for  about  a  year,  and  then  when  he  ap- 
peared in  court  there  were  no  prosecuting  wit- 
nesses and  he  was  discharged. 

The  first  Parliament  in  the  reign  of  William 
and  Mary  passed  the  Act  of  Toleration,  which 
was  hailed  with  great  joy  by  all  denominations 
save  the  Catholics,  who  were  left  out.  It  did  not 
remove  the  tests,  nor  did  it  extend  its  privileges 
to  people  who  did  not  believe  in  the  Trinity. 
But  none  of  the  penal  laws  could  now  be  con- 
strued against  those  dissenters  who  would  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  present  government, 
and  a  special  clause  was  inserted  for  the  Qua- 
kers, allowing  them  to  swear  or  affirm.*  The 
act  was  not  as  broad  in  its  liberality  as  Penn 
would  have  liked  to  see  it,  but  it  was  better  than 
nothing,  and  as  he  had  no  influence  with  this 
administration  anyhow,  he  was  glad  to  see  his 
friends  get  what  they  could  out  of  it.  As  it 
was,  the  act  was  altogether  too  merciful  to 
please  the  gentle  Church  of  England,  and  it 

*  The  Government  didn't  care  a  continental  which. 


2l6  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1689. 

therefore  opposed  it,  but  the  King  was  too 
heavy  for  the  Church,  and  the  bill  went  through 
both  houses  by  a  large  majority,  and  the  law 
could(no  longer  give  a  man  thirty  days  or  ten 
dollars  because  he  wouldn't  go  to  a  church) 
where  he  didn't  know  the  facings  and  couldn't 
find  the  place,  and  always  knelt  down  when  the 
rest  of  the  people  stood  up,  and  roared  out 
"  Good  Lord  deliver  us !"  at  the  prayer  for  the 
King— a  response  that  was  eminently  appro- 
priate but  highly  improper.  The  world  was 
slowly  coming  to  its  senses. 

In  America,  matters  were  still  progressing 
miserably  in  his  province.  Once  more  Penn 
reformed  the  executive  department  of  his  gov- 
ernment, and  it  was  so  reorganized  as  to  consist 
of  a  Deputy  Governor  and  two  assistants.* 
President  Lloyd  said  he  had  all  the  glory  and 
twice  the  trouble  he  had  ever  hungered  for  in 
governing  a  new  province,  and  he  resigned. 
Penn  appointed  Captain  John  Blackwell,  of 
Boston,  in  his  place.  Captain  Blackwell  was 
not  a  Quaker,  but  he  was  a  "  grave,  sober,  wise 
man,"  and  had  been  a  soldier  of  the  common- 

(   *  Known  as  "governor"  and  "  t'other  governor." 


^Et.  45-]   THE  DEPUTY  GOVERNOR  ARRIVES.     2 1/ 

wealth,  and  Penn  believed  in  him.  The  proprie- 
tor's quit-rents  continued  to  be  very  much  due, 
and  at  this  time  he  writes :  "  I  have  rough  peo- 
ple to  deal  with  about  my  quit-rents,  that  yet 
cannot  pay  a  ten-pound  bill,  but  draw,  draw, 
draw,  still  upon  me.  And  it  being  his  talent 
(Blackwell's)  to  regulate  and  set  things  in 
method,  easy  and  just,  I  have  pitched  upon  him 
to  advise  therein."  Blackwell  came,  saw,  and  got 
into  a  row  the  first  thing.  The  Friends  disliked 
him  because  he  was  a  military  man,  and  perhaps 
he  stirred  up  the  people  about  their  quit-rents, 
which  was  always  a  tender  subject  with  them. 
Dissensions  still  existed  in  the  Assembly,  and  it 
was  difficult  for  the  Deputy  Governor  to  get  a 
quorum  of  the  Council  together.  Of  course, 
Council,  Assembly,  and  Deputy  Governor 
poured  their  complaints  in  upon  Penn,  who 
finally  advised  Blackwell  to  resign,  "  although," 
the  Governor  writes,  "  I  must  say  that  his  pee- 
vishness to  some  Friends  has  not  risen  out  of  the 
dust  without  occasion."  The  government  then 
reverted  to  the  Council,  with  Thomas  Lloyd 
president,  the  original  form  of  1683. 

During  this  year,  also,  Clarkson  says,   Penn 
wrote  to  Lloyd,  instructing  him  to  set  up  a  pub- 


2l8  WILLIAM  PENM.  [1689. 

lie  grammar-school  in  Philadelphia,  which  he 
would  incorporate,  by  charter,  at  some  future 
time.  This,  says  Janney,  "gave  rise  to  the 
Friends'  Public  School,  which  was  incorporated 
in  1697,  confirmed  by  a  fresh  patent  in  1701, 
and  by  another  charter  in  1708,  whereby  the 
corporation  was  forever  thereafter  to  consist  of 
fifteeri  discreet  and  religious  persons  of  the  peo- 
ple called  Quakers,  by  name  of  '  The  Overseers 
of  the  Public  School,  founded  in  Philadelphia, 
at  the  request,  cost,  and  charges  of  the  people 
called  Quakers.'  But  its  last  and  present  char- 
ter from  William  Penn,  confirming  the  other 
charters  and  enlarging  its  privileges,  is  dated 
29th  of  November,  1711,  by  which  the  election 
of  the  overseers  is  vested  in  the  corporation.  In 
this  excellent  institution,  the  poor  were  taught 
gratuitously,  others  paid  a  proportion  of  the 
expense  incurred  in  their  children's  education, 
and  it  was  open  on  the  same  terms  to  all  reli- 
gious persuasions." 

In  the  year  preceding  the  establishment  of  the 
public  grammar-school,  the  first  protest  against 
human  slavery  in  America  had  been  bravely 
spoken.  At  a  monthly  meeting  of  the  German 
Friends  at  Germantown,  in  April,  1688,  the 


JEt.  45.]  FIRST  PROTEST  AGAINST  SLA  VERY.    2 19 

members  of  the  Society  present  gave  their  tes- 
timony against  the  evil  that  was  one  day  to 
overshadow  the  land  with  clouds  of  war  and 
drench  the  republic  with  blood.  This  protest 
against  slavery  was  signed  by  Garret  Hen- 
derich,  Derich  Op  de  Graeff,  Francis  Daniel 
Pastorius,  and  Abram  Op  de  Graeff. 

In  1690,  the  first  American  paper-mill  was 
established  near  Germantown,  on  the  Wissa- 
hickon,  by  William  Bradford  and  William  Rit- 
tenhouse.  At  this  mill  the  paper  was  made  on 
which  the  Weekly  Mercury  was  printed  in  New 
York. 

But  while  his  province  was  prospering  in  its 
material  development,  it  needed  the  presence  of 
the  Governor,  and  Penn  was  anxious  to  return 
to  it.  The  persecutions  of  the  dissenters  had 
ceased ;  he  could  do  no  more  for  his  Society;  he 
had  remained  in  the  country  after  the  accession 
of  William  and  Mary  long  enough  to  get  arrest- 
ed and  dismissed,  and  had  shown  people  that 
he  had  no  fear  and  did  not  shrink  from  the  con- 
sequences of  any  of  his  acts,  and  he  wanted  to 
come  back  to  Pennsylvania  and  stir  up  the  peas- 
antry about  those  quit-rents.  But  there  were 
several  reasons  for  his  remaining  in  England. 


220  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1690. 

One  day,  just  before  King  William  went  to 
Ireland  for  the  purpose  of  fighting  a  battle, — 
the  anniversary  of  which  would  forever  be 
celebrated  several  days  out  of  date,  and  would 
every  year  be  the  cause  of  as  many  broken 
heads  as  there  may  be  Orangemen  in  New  York, 
— a  file  of  soldiers  arrested  Penn  and  took  him 
before  the  Lords  of  Council,  on  a  charge  of 
holding  treasonable  correspondence  with  King 
James.  Penn  did  not  like  the  make-up  of  the 
Council,  for  among  them,  now  the  bitterest  per- 
secutors of  the  Catholic  King,  were  the  men 
who  had  fawned  on  him  with  most  servile  sub- 
mission when  he  was  on  the  throne.  He  de- 
manded an  examination  before  the  King  in 
person,  and  accordingly  Friend  William  and 
King  William  faced  each  other,  and  the  Quaker 
was  informed  that  his  clandestine  correspon- 
dence with  King  James  was  known.  ( He  was 
glad  to  hear  of  this,  because  he  did  not  know 
anything  about  it  himself,  and  would  like  very 
much  to  hear  what  there  was  in  it.  ^  They  told 
him  he  had  better  save  his  sarcasm  for  the 
Indians,  and  then  showed  him  a  letter  from 
James  to  himself  which  had  been  intercepted. 
It  was  a  square  deal,  no  doubt  of  that ;  the  letter 


&l.  45.]      PENN  REMAINS  IN  ENGLAND.  221 

was  genuine  and  addressed  to  Penn.  Evidently 
somebody  had  access  to  his  lock-box,  and  Penn 
said  there  would  be  a  vacancy  in  the  London 
Post  Office  if  he  had  any  influence  with  Frank 
Hatton.  In  this  letter,  the  exiled  King  desired 
Penn  "  to  come  to  his  assistance  and  express  to 
him  the  resentments  *  of  his  favor  and  benevo- 
lence." 

They  asked  Penn  why  James  Stuart  wrote  to 
him.  Penn  couldn't  say.  The  Stuarts  usually 
wrote  to  his  family  for  money,  and  he  had  no 
doubt  that  was  really  what  James  wanted  now. 
He  couldn't  get  it,  if  that  was  it.  Penn  had  no 
money  to  spare,  in  the  first  place,  and  if  he 
should  send  his  friend  a  draft,  some  of  the 
rascally  carriers  under  this  administration 
would  steal  it.  Penn  made  this  last  remark  in 
a  loud,  defiant  voice.f  Then  the  Council  want- 
ed to  know  what  "  resentments"  did  he  mean. 
Under  what  obligations  of  gratitude  was  Penn 
to  James?  This  must  have  puzzled  Penn  when 
he  thought  it  over.  What  did  he  owe  to  the 
Stuarts?  He  and  his  father  before  him  had 
served  them  faithfully  and  zealously,  and 
Charles  and  James  had  used  them  so  long  as 

*  "  Resentments  of  " — gratitude  for.  \  In  his  mind. 


222  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1690. 

they  were  useful,  and  had  paid  their  debts  in 
acres  of  wild  land  and  tribes  of  wilder  Indians. 
Finally  he  answered  that  he  supposed  James 
wanted  him  to  assist  in  bringing  about  his  res- 
toration, and  while  Penn  still  protested  his 
friendship  for  the  exile,  and  declared  that  as  a 
private  person  he  was  willing  to  render  him  any 
service  in  his  power,  yet  as  a  citizen  of  England 
he  owed  him  no  obedience,  and  had  never 
thought  of  aiding  him  to  regain  the  throne. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  examination,  Penn 
was  bound  over  to  appear  in  court  at  the  Trinity 
term,  and  when  he  appeared  he  was  again  dis- 
charged. William  the  Quaker  was  a  far  better 
man  than  was  William  the  Admiral  under  a 
similar  state  of  things,  and  James  thought  very 
meanly  of  Penn  when  he  believed  him  capable 
of  plotting  treason  against  the  Government. 
What  had  this  narrow-minded  man  ever  seen 
in  Penn  to  justify  him  in  such  a  base  estimate 
of  his  character  ?  * 

James  landed  in  Ireland,  and  King  William 
went  to  meet  him  in  that  famous  foot-race 
known  as  the  Battle  of  the  Boyne,  in  which 

*  Answer  in  next  number.  A  chromo  will  be  given  for  the 
first  correct  solution. 


jEt.  45.]  ACQUITTED  ONCE  MORE.  22$ 

contest  of  speed  James  came  out  a  little  ahead, 
although  William  was  close  behind  him.  In 
London  Penn  was  again  in  danger  of  arrest. 
Lord  Preston,  Master  Ashton,  and  a  man  named 
Elliott  had  been  arrested  on  the  eve  of  their 
departure  for  France,  and  papers  of  a  treason- 
able nature  were  found  on  their  persons,  which 
implicated  a  number  of  people  of  note.  A  pro- 
clamation was  issued  for  the  arrest  of  the  Bishop 
of  Ely,  Lord  Clarendon,  and  William  Penn, 
among  others.  Penn  was  not  then  arrested, 
although  he  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  State, 
asking  when  he  would  be  wanted  and  express- 
ing his  readiness  to  come  in  at  any  time.  Going 
to  prison  every  few  days  seemed  like  old  times 
for  him^and  it  is  a  mystery  how  he  kept  him- 
self from  writing  a  few  pamphlets.  There  was 
no  evidence  against  him  in  this  case,  nothing  in 
the  intercepted  papers  to  implicate  him,  but  so 
long  as  he  was  in  the  country  it  seemed  to  be- 
the  opinion  of  Mary,  who  was  running  the 
mangle  during  her  husband's  absence,  that  he 
might  as  well  be  in  prison.  So  he  went  to  his 
dungeon-cell,*  and  on  the  last  day  of  Michael- 

*  Same  old  sell ;  up  three  pair  back,  and  knock  at  the  right-    j 
hand  door.     Knock  hard. 


224  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1690. 

mas  term — whenever  that  is  or  was^-he  was 

•  V 

brought  into  court,  acquitted,  and  discharged 
as  usual. 

On  the  1 3th  of  January  George  Fox  died,  and 
William  Penn  stood  beside  him  as  he  "  finished 
his  glorious  testimony."  "  He  is  gone,"  said 
Penn,  "  and  has  left  us  in  the  storm  that  is  over 
our  heads,  surely  in  great  mercy  to  him,  but  as 
an  evidence  to  us  of  sorrow  to  come."  Penn 
officiated  at  the  funeral,  and  even  in  the  depth 
of  his  sorrow  his  own  troubles  pursued  him. 
No  grief  was  sacred  and  no  grave  secure  in  the 
good  old  days. 

A  body  of  officers  hurried  to  the  grave  of 
George  Fox  to  arrest  Penn  on  a  new  charge, 
but  they  reached  the  spot  too  late  ;  the  Quaker 
had  returned  to  his  home.  Here  he  learned 
that  William  Fuller,  a  gentleman  who  supported 
himself  in  easy  affluence  by  swearing  to  any- 
thing he  could  be  paid  for,  had,  under  oath, 
accused  him  of  being  engaged  in  treasonable 
correspondence  with  the  enemies  of  the  Govern- 
ment. This  same  detective,  also  swore  out  an- 
other accusation  against  him  in  Dublin,  being 
determined  to  earn  his  money  and  maintain  his 
character  as  a  detective,  if  he  had  to  accuse 


^Et.  46.]  LIVING  IN  SECLUSION.  22$ 

Penn  all  over  Europe.  It  is  some  consolation 
to  know  that  within  a  few  months  the  House  of 
Commons  took  up  this  man  Fuller  and  resolved 
that  he  was  "  a  notorious  cheat,  rogue,  and  false 
accuser,  who  had  scandalized  the  Government 
and  magistrates  and  abused  the  House."  And 
within  ten  years  he  was  convicted  as  a  libeller, 
condemned  to  stand  three  times  in  the  pillory, 
fined  1,000  marks,  and  sent  to  prison. 

In  the  face  of  these  accusations  and  warrants, 
Penn  once  more  postponed  his  return  to  Penn- 
sylvania, and  for  a  few  months  lived  very  quietly. 
He  had  nd  idea  of  going  into  court  to  stand  the 
farce  of  a  trial  with  professional  perjurers  as 
witnesses  for  the  prosecution,  and  the  fact  that 
he  made  no  effort  to  purchase  Fuller  .indicates 
that  detectives  were  more  expensive  then  than 
now,  or  else  the  Government  could  outbid  him 
on  witnesses.  If  Penn  could  only  have  col- 
lected his  quit-rents,  he  might  have  bought  all 
the  witnesses  he  needed.  As  it  was,  he  simply 
kept  himself  in  a  general  state  of  umbrageous 
seclusion,  and  was  not  at  home  to  any  gentle- 
man wearing  a  star  on  his  coat.  But  it  is  proba- 
ble that  he  would  have  been  found  had  the 
Government  wanted  him  very  much  or  really 


226  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1690. 

believed  him  to  be  guilty.  He  wrote  letters 
from  his  retirement — nothing  could  keep  him 
from  writing  letters.  He  pledged  himself  to 
the  King  for  "  inoffensive  behavior"  of  himself, 
and  spelled  behavior  with  a  "  u"  to  make  it  more 
binding ;  and  begging  for  either  peace  or  fair 
treatment,  he  added,  "  If  I  am  not  worth  looking 
after,  let  me  be  quiet ;  and  if  I  am  of  any  impor- 
tance, I  am  worth  obliging."  "  Let  me  go  to 
America,  or  let  me  be  protected  here." 

Penn  was  more  than  ever  anxious  to  return 
to  America,  and  he  must  have  half  wished  he 
had  never  exchanged  Philadelphia  f&r  London. 
The  officers  of  the  law  were  after  him  with  two 
warrants,  his  enemies  were  reiterating  the  old 
charges  of  Jesuitism,  everything  King  James 
had  done  that  was  unpopular — and  all  his  acts 
were  unpopular  since  the  new  King  came  in — 
was  charged  upon  William  Penn  ;  even  many 
of  the  dissenters  joined  in  the  clamor  against 
him,  members  of  his  own  Society  treated  him 
coldly,  and  the  day  of  his  influence  at  court  had 
passed  away.  But  yesterday,  and  at  Penn's 
house  in  Kensington,  crowds  of  clients,  friends, 
and  suitors  waited  on  him,  begging  for  his  favor 
with  the  King;  petitions,  remonstrances,  and 


JEt.  46.]   THE  QUID  OF  BITTER  MEMORIES.       22/ 

addresses  were  entrusted  to  the  courtly  Quaker's 
influence  and  keeping,  with  most  obsequious 
reverence  and  courtesy ;  no  man  so  favored 
and  so  courted,  and  to-day,  hiding  in  a  back 
room  up  a  rickety  flight  of  stairs,  with  a  camp 
bedstead,  a  tin  wash-basin,  and  two  hooks  in  the 
wall  for  furniture,  and  one  window  with  a  view 
of  a  back  alley  and  a  Chinese  laundry.  How 
vain  are  the  smiles  of  princes,  and  how  lighter 
than  vanity  it  is  to  put  one's  trust  in  kings.* 
How  often,  in  his  retirement,  must  poor  Penn 
have  thought  of  the  impressive  remarks  of  Rev. 
Alonzo  C.  Wolsey,  the  well-known  revivalist: 

"...  Oh,  Cromwell,  John  H.  Cromwell* 
Had  I  but  attended  to  my  own  knitting, 
And  worked  as  hard  for  my  own  province, 
With  half  the  zeal  and  about  one  third  of  the  money, 
As  I  have  served   this  go-as-you-please-so-you-get-out-of-tne- 

country  King, 
I  had  not  then  been  left  by  any  man." 

In  these  days  of  trial  and  affliction  came  one 
grateful  friend,  Locke,  and  offered  to  procure  a 
pardon  for  him,  for  it  was  now  Locke's  day  of 

*  Three  tiny  little  deuces  will  take  the  rigidity  out  of  the  two     ) 
biggest  Kings  that  ever  glared  upon  the  glittering  boards. 


228  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1691. 

grace.  But  as  Locke  had  conscientiously  re- 
fused a  pardon,  obtained  for  him  by  Penn, 
because  he  knew  he  had  done  no  wrong,  as 
George  Fox  had  refused  pardons  because  only 
guilty  men  could  be  pardoned,  so  now  William 
Penn  would  have  none.  He  asked  for  justice, 

• 

not  mercy,  and  he  refused  to  go  to  America  as 
an  exile. 

Affairs  were  growing  more  and  more  compli- 
cated in  Pennsylvania.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
territory  showed  a  desire  to  secede  from  the 
province,  and  the  members  of  Council  from  the 
territories  insisted  on  separate  civil  establish- 
ments, and,  ignoring  the  honorable  members 
from  the  province,  proceeded  to  appoint  their 
own  judges,  and  issued  their  commissions. 
Penn,  willing  to  conciliate  the  territories,  wrote 
to  the  Council,  submitting  for  the  people's  choice 
three  forms  of  executive,  a  Council,  or  five 
Commissioners,  or  a  Deputy  Governor.  The 
people  of  the  province  promptly  decided  on  a 
Deputy  Governor,  and  the  territories,  being  in 
a  large  minority,  could  not  help  themselves, 
although  they  wanted  the  five  Commissioners, 
and  wanted  the  Deputy  Governor  least  and  last 
of  any.  But  the  province,  for  the  sake  of  peace, 


JEt.  47.]  GOVERNORS  ALL  ROUND. 

made  them  a  fair  offer :  "/'//  take  the  turkey  and 
give  you  the  buzzard,  or  you  take  the  buzzard 
and  give  me  the  turkey."  And  so  the  province 
took  the  Deputy  Governor,  and  named  Thomas 
Lloyd  fer  the  place,  while  the  three  lower 

counties  would  none  of  him,  and  scoffed  at  him 

• 

and  would  not  make  obeisance  before  him,  but 
said  "  Ha,  ha,"  and  called  him  "  Tom"  and 
"  Gov." 

Penn  was  displeased  with  Ltoyd  for  accept- 
ing "a  broken  office,"  and  he  justly  blamed  the 
territory  men  for  their  ingratitude.  But  scold- 
ing wouldn't  help  matters,  so  he  did  the  best 
he  could.  He  confirmed  Thomas  Lloyd  as 
Deputy  Governor  for  the  province,  and  sent 
out  Colonel  Markham  as  Deputy  Governor  for 
the  territories.  This  firm  action  on  the  part  of 
Penn  was  immediately  felt.  The  two  sections 
had  now  each  its  own  deputy  governor  to  sup- 
port, and  fearing  that  Penn  might  send  out  a 
Lieutenant-Govern  or  and  possibly  a  Governor- 
at-Large,  they  subsided  into  tranquil  and  trem- 
bling submission.  Their  pacification  and  sup- 
pression was  complete  when  there  came  a 
rumor  from  England,  that  if  there  was  any 
more  trouble,  Penn  had  threatened  to  send  out 


230  WILLIAM  PENN.  [iGvi. 

a  real  governor's  private  secretary,  appointed 
from  the  ranks  of  our  best  young  men.  This 
dreadful  threat,  coming  from  one  usually  so 
kind  and  merciful,  cast  a  gloom  over  the  entire 
community.  Penn  was  sorely  distressed  about 
the  near  future  of  his  province,  for  he  saw 
whither  it  was  drifting.*  "  Lay  their  union 
upon  them,"  he  wrote,  "  for  else  the  Governor 
of  New  York  is  like  to  have  all,  if  he  have  it 
not  already." 

George  Keith,  feeling  that  nobody  would 
know  who  he  was  nor  what  he  was  doing  if  he 
didn't  talk  loud  and  call  upon  the  editor  every 
time  he  came  to  town,  now  added  his  little  fire- 
brand to  the  general  distraction.  It  was  not 
well,  he  thought,  to  have  all  the  unrest  and  ex- 
citement and  hullaballoo  confined  to  politics. 
The  mixture  needed  a  little  tincture  of  religion 
to  make  it  bitjter.  George  was  a  Scotch  Qua- 
ker, a  minister  of  the  Society,  a  fine  scholar, 
with  a  profound  respect  for  George  Keith  and 
the  "  docthrines"  with  a  long  o.  He  had  been 
a  stanch  and  able  Quaker,  but  he  would  rather 
wrangle  over  some  rugged  tough  old  theo- 

*  Having  probably  heard  Miss  Anna  Dickinson's  admirable 
lecture  on  that  subject      ) 


JEt.  47.]          DISGUSTS  HIS  AUDIENCE.  2$l 

logical  knot  than  eat.  He  now  started  to  re- 
form the  Society.  Some  of  its  doctrines  he 
ridiculed,  some  he  denounced ;  he  abused  the 
Friends  for  taking  any  part  in  politics  or  as- 
sisting in  the  execution  of  the  laws,  set  up  a 
separate  meeting,  drew  large  numbers  of 
Friends  after  him,  went  to  England  and  was 
ordained  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England 
by  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  returned  to  the 
province  in  orders,  a  clergyman  of  the  most 
political  church  then  known.  His  Quaker 
followers  looked  at  him  in  amazement.  They 
had  tasted  the  Christian  love  and  fellowship  of 
that  church  in  nearly  all  the  prisons  in  England, 
and  had  quivered  under  the  pitiless  lash  of  its 
persecution  until  a  dreadful  Catholic  prince 
stayed  its  arm,  and  they  didn't  care  for  any 
more  Episcopalian  on  their  dish.  No  wonder 
that  many  of  Keith's  followers  left  him,  and  the 
wonder  is  that  any  should  remain  with  a  man 
who  placed  himself  in  the  exceedingly  pleasant 
position  of  denouncing,  for  one  half  his  life, 
what  he  had  spent  the  other  half  in  defending. 

All  this  religious  and  civil  distraction  and 
dissension  in  the  province  gave  the  King  the 
pretext  he  needed,  and  Penn's  worst  fears 


232  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1691. 

were  realized.  During  the  war  with  France,  it 
was  necessary  that  the  King  should  have  a  firm 
and  controlling  hold  upon  all  the  colonies. 
Many  charters  were  annulled  on  .various  pre- 
texts, and  on  the  loth  of  March  an  order  in 
council  was  promulgated,  which  deprived  Wil- 
liam Penn  of  his  government,  and  placed  the 
province  of  Pennsylvania  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  Benjamin  Fletcher,  Governor  of  New  York. 
Penn's  downfall  must  have  moved  even  the 
pity  of  his  enemies.  He  claimed  that  he  was 
almost  impoverished  by  his  expenditures  for 
his  model  province ;  his  Irish  estates  had  been 
wrung  from  him  in  very  much  the  same  way 
they  had  been  wrung  from  some  one  else  for 
his  father ;  swindled  by  his  own  stewards,  over 
head  and  ears  in  debt,  neglected  or  persecuted 
where  he  had  been  courted,  under  the  sus- 
picion and  frowns  of  royalty  where  he  had 
basked  in  the  smiles  of  the  court,  deprived  of 
his  governorship,  and  forced  to  see  the  fate  of 
the  "  Holy  Experiment"  in  the  hands  of  a  rough 
soldier,  arrest  hanging  over  him  and  the  prison 
yawning  before  him,  his  loving  wife  heart- 
broken over  her  husband's  troubles  and  re- 
verses, care  and  sorrow  hemmed  him  in  on 


.fit.  47-]    HARD  TIMES  FOR  THE  FOUNDER.        233 

every  side.  But  he  was  patient  and  content  to 
abide  the  just  judgments  of  time.  "  I  know  my 
enemies,"  he  writes,  "  and  their  true  characters 
and  history,  and  their  intrinsic  value  to  this  or 
other  governments.  I  commit  them  to  time, 
with  my  own  conduct  and  afflictions." 

It  is  a  world  of  change.  The  radiant  sunrise 
and  the  cloudless  skies  this  morning ;  the 
tossing  clouds  and  the  pitiless  storms  to-night. 
To-day,  we  stand  in  voiceless  admiration  before 
the  glowing  bill-boards  of  Barnum  the  magnifi- 
cent ;  to-morrow,  the  circus  is  gone  and  the  all- 
devouring  goat  of  the  upper  wards  browses 
pensively  upon  the  gorgeous  tropical  scenery, 
the  writhing  boa,  the  fierce  Numidian  lion,  the 

\      f 

Kentucky  giant,  and  the  fat  woman,  Sic  tran- 
sit gloria  ciraccus !  , 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

NUGGETS  OF  SOLID  WISDOM. 

"TvURING  these  long  months  of  perplexities, 
U  troubles,  and  retirement,  Penn  kept  him- 
self so  closely  connected  with  the  ink-well  that 
one  of  his  worldly  friends,  an  idle  man  given  to 
vain  babbling  and  profane  conversation,  advised 
him  to  go  into  the  publishing  business  under 
the  firm  name  of  "  Penn  and  Ink." )  To  which 
the  stately  Quaker  gravely  replied  in  a  letter, 
saying  that  he  wot  not  that  he  had  none  of  his 
acquaintance  of  such  a  name  as  Ink,  nor  were 
it  at  all  seemly  that  he  should  enter  upon  busi- 
ness covenants  (though  he  must  needs  say  it) 
with  a  person  whom  (although  in  all  civility 
and  none  unkindness)  yet  not  to  have  known 
more  of  his  merits  and  conversation  (being,  as 
it  were,  well  spoken  and  favored)  and  so  it  be- 
hooveth  him.  Then  the  profane  babbler  who 
made  the  idle  and  wicked  jest  felt  that  W.  Penn 
had  "  sot  down  onto  him." 


^Et.  48.]  WOMEN'S  RIGHTS.  235 

He  was  a  busy  man  and  must  have  been  a 
standing  terror  to  publishers.  He  wrote,  during 
the  three  years  he  was  hunted  and  persecuted 
after  James  went  out  of  the  royalty  business, 
his  preface  to  Robert  Barclay's  works,  a  tract 
called  "Just  Measures,"  which  was  a  sort  of 
pioneer  "  women's  rights "  .document.  In  the 
Monthly,  Quarterly,  and  Yearly  Meetings  of  the 
Friends,  women  as  well  as  that  noble  animal, 
the  man,  were  allowed  to  take  part,  not  merely 
in  the  ministry  and  subscriptions,  but  in  the 
government  of  the  church  as  well.  In  all  relig- 
ious denominations  there  has  always  been  and 
ever  will  be  a  class  of  men,  usually  the  stupid- 
est and  stingiest  in  the  church,  who  consider 
a  woman  utterly  incapable  of  comprehending, 
much  less  transacting,  the  simplest  items  of 
church  business,  which  should  be  left  entirely 
to  the  brethren,  while  the  sisters  should  confine 
their  humble  duties  as  church  members  to  the 
narrow  but  proper  sphere  of  their  limited  abili- 
ties,and  be  content  merely  with  collecting  money, 
organizing  and  maintaining  sociables,  mite  soci- 
eties, fairs,  missionary  circles,  relieving  the 
poor,  raising  funds  for  the  church  carpet  and  a 
new  organ,  paying  the  sexton,  clearing  off  the 


236  WILLIAM  PENN  [1692. 

church  debt,  buying  coal,  and  managing  the 
summer  picnic  and  the  winter  Christmas-tree, 
paying  for  the  parsonage,  making  baptismal 
robes,  washing  dishes  and  making  oyster-soup 
at  the  festival,  organizing  the  lecture-course, 
paying  the  gas-bills,  keeping  up  the  prayer- 
meetings,  attending  all  the  funerals,  buying 
Sunday-school  libraries,  not  be  bothering  the 
men  for  money  all  the  time,  and  keep  quiet  in 
business  meetings  when  the  men  are  voting  to 
apply  the  funds  now  in  the  hands  of  the  "  Wo- 
men's Home  Mission"  to  the  purchase  of  a  desk 
and  office  chair  for  the  church  clerk.  As  there 
are  men  of  this  class  in  all  churches  to-day,  so 
there  were  such  men  among  the  Friends  then, 
and  William  Penn,  with  his  usual  good  sense, 
maintained  "  So  that  as  men  and  women  make 
up  the  church,  men  and  women  make  up  the 
business  of  the  church." 

He  also  published  "A  Key  Opening  the 
Way  to  every  Capacity  how  to  Distinguish  the 
Religion  professed  by  the  people  called  Qua- 
kers from  the  Perversions  and  Misrepresenta- 
tions of  their  Adversaries  ; "  and  "  An  Essay 
toward  the  Present  and  Future  Peace  of  Eu- 
rope," which  was  a  peace-society  paper,  and 


-fit.  48.]       PENN'S  PATENT  PRECEPTS, 

was  a  forerunner  of  the  views  and  plans  of  the 
Universal  International  Lamb-and-Lion  Society 
of  to-day.  He  also  published  at  this  time  "  Some 
Fruits  of  Solitude  in  Reflexions  and  Maxims  re- 
lating to  the  Conduct  of  Human  Life."  These 
maxims,  as  maxims  are  very  apt  to  be,  are 
plumb  full  of  wisdom  and  quite  generally  neg- 
lected, it  being  so  much  easier  to  write  them 
than  to  keep  them.  Penn's  maxims  wander 
over  a  wide  range  of  subjects,  and  if  he  remem- 
bered them  all  himself,  to  do  them,  it  is  no 
wonder  he  was  a  good  man.  The  following 
samples,  extracted  here  and  there  from  the  mass 
of  his  wise  sayings,  will  not  burden  the  memory 
of  the  careful  reader  who  skips  this  chapter,  and 
for  whose  special  edification  they  are  here  in- 
serted : 

Cunning  borders  very  near  upon  knavery. 

In  his  prayers  man  says,  "  Thy  will  be  done ;" 
but  means  his  own  ;  at  least  acts  so. 

Lend  not  beyond  thy  ability,  nor  refuse  to 
lend  out  of  thy  ability ;  especially  when  it  will 
help  others  more  than  it  can  hurt  thee. 

If  thou  rise  with  an  appetite,  thou  art  sure 
never  to  sit  down  without  one. 

Strong  liquors  are  good  at  some  times,  and  in 


238  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1692. 

small  proportions :  being  better  for  physic  than 
food  ;  for  cordials  than  common  use.* 

Frugality  is  good,  if  liberality  be  joined  with 
it.  The  first  is  leaving  off  superfluous  expenses; 
the  last  bestowing  them  to  the  benefit  of  others 
that  need.  The  first  without  the  last  begins 
covetousness ;  the  last  without  the  first  begins 
prodigality. 

Never  marry  but  for  love ;  but  see  that  thou 
lovest  what  is  lovely. 

Frequent  visits,  presents,  intimate  correspon- 
dence, and  intermarriages  f  within  allowed 
bounds,  are  means  of  keeping  up  the  concern 
and  affection  that  nature  requires  from  relations. 

There  can  be  no  friendship  where  there  is  no 
freedom.  It  will  speak  freely,  and  act  so  too ; 
and  take  nothing  ill  where  no  ill  is  meant. 

Avoid  company,  where  it  is  not  profitable  or 
necessary ;  and  on  these  occasions,  speak  little, 
and  last. 

Give  no  advantage  in  argument,  nor  lose  any 
that  is  offered.  This  is  a  benefit  which  arises 
from  temper. 

*  "For  mechanical  purposes,  a  little  of  it  goes  good." — JOSH 
BILLINGS. 
f  He  believed  in  keeping  the  property  in  the  family. 


jEt.  48.]       PENN'S  PATENT  PRECEPTS.  239 

If  thou  thinkest  twice  before  thou  speakest 
once,  thou  wilt  speak  twice  the  better  for  it. 

It  is  wise  not  to  seek  a  secret ;  and  honest  not 
to  reveal  one. 

Only  trust  thyself,  and  another  shall  not  be- 
tray thee. 

Openness  has  the  mischief,  though  not  the 
malice  of  treachery. 

Some  are  so  foolish  as  to  interrupt  and  an- 
ticipate those  that  speak,  instead  of  hearing 
and  thinking  before  they  answer ;  which  is  un- 
civil, as  well  as  silly. 

Wisdom  never  uses  nor  wants  cunning.  Cun- 
ning to  the  wise  is  as  an  ape  to  a  man. 

Be  not  easily  acquainted ;  lest,  finding  reason 
to  cool, thou  makest  an  enemy  instead  of  a  good 
neighbor. 

It  were  endless  to  dispute  upon  everything 
that  "is  disputable. 

We  must  not  pretend  to  see  all  that  we  see,  if 
we  would  be  easy. 

Rarely  promise ;  but,  if  lawful,  constantly  per- 
form. 

If  thou  wouldst  be  obeyed  being  a  father, 
being  a  son,  be  obedient. 


240  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1692. 

Be  not  fancifully  jealous,  for  that  is  foolish ; 
as  to  be  reasonably  so  is  wise. 

It  is  no  sin  to  be  tempted,  but  to  be  over- 
come. 

If  we  would  amend  the  world,  we  should 
mend  ourselves ;  and  teach  our  children  to  be, 
not  what  we  are,  but  what  they  should  be. 

It  is  not  how  we  leave  our  children,  but  what 
we  leave  them.* 

Ingenuity,  as  well  as  religion,  sometimes 
suffers  between  two  thieves:  pretenders  and 
despisers. 

"  Have  but  little  to  do,  and  do  it  thyself."  f 

To  shoot  well  flying  is  well ;  but  to  choose 
it  has  more  of  vanity  than  judgment. 

To  be  dexterous  in  danger  is  a  virtue  ;  but 
to  court  danger,  to  show  it,  is  weakness. 

A  man,  like  a  watch,  is  to  be  valued  for  his 
goings.  J 

Never  give  out  while  there  is  hope ;  but  hope 
not  beyond  reason  ;  for  that  shows  more  desire 
than  judgment. 

*  This  may  sound  worldly,  but  we  reckon  it's  all  right. 

\  He  wrote  this  while  he  was  staying  in  London  and  letting 
other  men  govern  Pennsylvania  for  him. 

\  That  is,  his  value  is  in  his  works,  not  his  face.  Hence  it 
is  only  a  cheap  man  who  "  runs  his  face"  for  anything. 


Ml.  49.]       PENN'S  PATENT  PRECEPTS.  241 

We  must  take  care  to  do  things  rightly ;  for 
a  just  sentence  may  be  unjustly  executed. 

I  have  oftentimes  thought  that  a  passionate 
man  is  like  a  weak  spring  that  cannot  stand 
long  locked. 

And  it  is  as  true  that  those  things  are  unfit 
for  use  that  cannot  bear  small  locks  without 
breaking. 

Remember  the  proverb,  "Bene  qui  latuit, 
bene  vixit:"  They  are  happy  that  live  retired- 
ly. * 

Affect  not  to  be  seen,  and  men  will  less  see 
thy  weakness. 

Happy  that  king  who  is  great  by  justice,  and 
the  people  who  are  free  by  obedience. 

Let  all  the  people  think  they  govern,  and 
they  will  be  governed. 

Kings,  chiefly  in  this,  should  imitate  God ; 
their  mercy  should  be  above  all  their  works. 

Where  a  subject  is  more  popular  than  the 
prince,  the  prince  is  in  danger. 

We  are  apt  to  love  praise,  but  not  to  deserve 
it. 

It  is  safer  to  learn  than  to  teach ;  and  he  who 

*  This  one  he  wrote  while  he  was  living  in  the  court  of  James. 


242  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1693. 

conceals  his  opinion  has  nothing  to  answer  for. 

It  were  better  to  be  of  no  church,  than  to  be 
bitter  for  any. 

God  is  better  served  in  resisting  a  temptation 
to  evil  than  in  many  formal  prayers. 

This  is  but  twice  or  thrice  a  day ;  but  that 
every  hour  and  moment  of  the  day.  So  much 
more  is  our  continual  watch  than  our  evening 
and  morning  devotion. 

Running  streams  are  not  so  apt  to  corrupt 
as  stagnant  waters:  nor  itinerant,  as  settled 
preachers;  but  they  are  not  to  run  before 
they  are  sent. 

If  I  am  even  with  my  enemy,  the  debt  is 
paid  ;  but  if  I  forgive  it,  I  oblige  him  for  ever. 

"  Open  thou  my  lips,  and  then,"  said  the  royal 
prophet,  "  my  mouth  shall  praise  God."  But 
not  till  then. 

When  Penn  drops  into  politics  and  touches 
upon  civil-service  reform,  he  speaks  truths  that 
are  new  and  strange  to  the  statesmen  who,  by 
going  without  a  girl  in  the  kitchen  and  having 
their  washing  done  at  home,  (manage  to  save 
$45,000  a  year  out  of  a  $5,000  salary. \  Penn 
was  evidently  no  admirer  of  the  noble  scratcher 


jEt.  49.]  CIVIL   SERVICE  IDEAS.  243 

or  independent,  for  in  speaking  of  party  one  of 
his  maxims  is,  "  Where  right  or  religion  gives 
a  call,  a  neuter  must  be  a  coward  or  a  hypo- 
crite." 

Among  his  maxims  under  this  and  similar 
heads  are : 

The  safety  of  a  prince,  therefore,  consists  in* 
a  well-chosen  council ;  and  that  only  can  be 
said  to  be  so  where  the  persons  that  compose 
it  are  qualified  for  the  business  that  comes  be- 
fore them. 

Who  would  send  to  a  tailor  to  make  a  lock, 
or  to  a  smith  to  make  a  suit  of  clothes  ? 

Let  there  be  merchants  for  trade,  seamen  for 
the  admiralty,  travellers  for  foreign  affairs, 
some  of  the  leading  men  of  the  country  for 
home  business,  and  common  and  civil  lawyers 
to  advise  of  legality  and  right,  who  should  al- 
ways keep  to  the  strict  rules  of  law. 

Yet  the  public  must  and  will  be  served ;  and 
they  that  do  it  well  deserve  public  marks  of 
honor  and  profit. 

To  do  so,  men  must  have  public  minds,  as 
well  as  salaries ;  or  they  will  serve  private  ends 
at  public  cost. 

Government  can  never  be  well  administered 


244  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1693. 

but  where  those  entrusted  make  conscience  of 
well  discharging  their  places. 

Five  things  are  requisite  to  a  good  officer : 
ability,  clean  hands,  despatch,  patience,  and  im- 
partiality. 

Let  men  have  sufficient  salaries,  and  exceed 
'  them  at  their  peril. 

It  is  a  dishonor  to  government  that  its  offi- 
cers should  live  on  benevolence ;  as  it  ought  to 
be  infamous  for  officers  to  dishonor  the  public, 
by  being  twice  paid  for  the  same  business. 

He  that  understands  not  his  employment, 
whatever  else  he  knows,  must  be  unfit  for  it ; 
and  the  public  suffer  by  his  inexpertness. 

They  that  are  able  should  be  just  too ;  or  the 
government  may  be  the  worst  for  their  capa- 
city. 

While  Penn  was  employing  his  abundant 
leisure  in  writing  all  these  wise  things  and 
good  books,  his  friends  at  court,  remembering 
his  unselfishness  and  kindness  in  the  day  of  his 
own  court  influence,  procured  him  what  he 
most  earnestly  desired,  a  public  hearing  before 
the  King,  the  result  of  which  was  that  Penn's 
defence  of  himself  was  so  able,  simple,  and  con- 


JEt.  49.]  DBA  TH  OF  GUL    PENN.  245 

vincing  that  even  the  King,  who  knew  all  the 
time  he  was  innocent,  told  him  "  he  was  as  free 
as  ever,"  and  should  "  not  be  molested  or  in- 
jured in  any  of  his  affairs."  This  was  exceed- 
ingly kind  in  the  King.  He  had  already  seized 
Penn's  estates  in  Ireland,  and  had  taken  away 
his  province,  and  now  that  Penn  had  nothing 
left  that  his  most  gracious  Majesty  could  get 
hold  of,  he  assured  him  of  the  royal  protection 
and  confidence.^)  i"  If  I  have  done  anything  you 
are  sorry  for,"  said  this  magnanimous  King,  "  I 
forgive  you."  ) 

Once  more  Penn  was  a  free  man,  but  his  cup  ot 
bitterness  was  not  yet  full.  His  wife,  Gulielma, 
whose  health  had  long  been  failing,  broken  by 
sorrow  for  her  husband's  troubles,  lived  to  see  his 
name  honorably  cleared  from  every  accusation, 
and  then,  on  February  23,  1693,  in  the  fiftieth 
year  of  her  age,  passed  away  "  to  the  world  that 
sets  this  one  right."  "  In  great  peace  and  sweet- 
ness she  departed,"  Penn  writes,  "and  to  her 
gain,  but  our  incomparable  loss,  being  one  of 
ten  thousand,  wise,  chaste,  humble,  plain,  mod- 
est, industrious,  constant,  and  undaunted."  "  She 
quietly  expired  in  my  arms,  her  head  upon  my 
bosom,  with  a  sensible  and  devout  resignation 


246  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1693. 

of  her  soul  to  Almighty  God.  I  hope  I  may 
say  she  was  a  public  as  well  as  a  private  loss ; 
for  she  was  not  only  an  excellent  wife  and 
mother,  but  an  entire  and  constant  friend,  of  a 
more  than  common  capacity,  and  greater  mod- 
esty and  humility;  yet  most  equal,  and  un- 
daunted in  danger ;  religious,  as  well  as  ingenu- 
ous, without  affectation ;  an  easy  mistress  and 
good  neighbor,  especially  to  the  poor;  neither 
lavish  nor  penurious ;  but  an  example  of  indus- 
try as  well  as  of  other  virtues." 

The  beautiful  character  of  Gulielma  Penn, 
drawn  by  her  husband  and  attested  by  her  life 
and  the  testimony  of  the  friends  who  enjoyed 
her  society,  draws  us  very  near  to  the  great 
Quaker  in  this  crowning  affliction,  which  fell 
upon  him  at  the  very  time  when  his  troubles 
were  so  many  and  his  friends  seemed  so  few. 
After  Guli's  death  his  heart  was  heavy  and  his 
pen  was  idle,  until  he  was  roused  and  called  back 
to  the  pitiless  workaday  world  and  its  active 
duties  by  startling  news  from  Pennsylvania. 

When  that  province  was  annexed  to  New 
York,  Governor  Fletcher  went  down  to  Phila- 
delphia and  summoned  the  Assembly  to  meet 
him.  He  paid  no  attention  to  the  old  legal 


JEt.  49.]     FLETCHER   SHAKES   THEM   UP.  247 

form  in  calling  them  together,  probably  desir- 
ing to  let  them  know  there  was  no  funny  busi- 
ness about  him,  and  they  didn't  have  patient 
William  Penn  to  fool  with  when  he  was  around. 
He  put  on  airs  and  talked  about  Brooklyn  bridge 
and  the  L  roads  and  going  back  to  the  "  city," 
in  a  way  that  was  exasperating  to  the  Philadel- 
phians,  and  affected  to  be  afraid  of  wolves  when 
he  crossed  Broad  Street,  and  looked  amazed  and 
got  out  and  walked  when  a  Market  Street  car 
conductor  tried  to  collect  six  cents  fare  of  him, 
and  found  fault  with  Fairmount  Park  because  it 
was  so  small,  and  talked  so  incessantly  about 
what  they  did  and  the  way  they  did  it  in  "  New 
Yawk,"  that  the  Assembly  grew  tired  of  him 
before  it  assembled,  and  the  greater  number  of 
the  members  refused  to  take  the  oaths  tendered 
to  them.  (  Fletcher  then  watered  the  oaths  down 
to  the  mild  consistency  approved  by  their  politi- 
cal palates,  but  assured  them  at  the  same  time 
that  he  only  did  it  because  this  was  the  first 
time  and  didn't  count.  After  this,  he  said,  they 
should  take  the  oath  straight,  if  it  burned  their 
throats  raw. ) 

Then  he  proceeded  to  the  business  upon  the 
Speaker's  table,  and  laid  before  them  a  requisition 


248  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1693. 

from  Queen  Mary  for  men  and  money  to  defend 
the  frontiers  of  New  York  against  the  French 
and  Indians.  Albany  was  exposed  to  attack,  and 
there  were  all  the  precious  Knickerbocker  fami- 
lies, seven  hundred  years  older  than  the  Flood, 
exposed  to  the  murderous  attacks  of  barbarous 
Indians,  who  would  lift  the  hair  of  a  genuine 
Knickerbocke^even  as  the  daughter  of  an  Irish 
king  chips  the  edges  of  your  china.)  And  if 
these  families  were  utterly  destroyed  from  off 
the  face  of  the  earth  at  that  time,  what  was 
New  York  going  to  do  in  coming  years  for  de- 
scendants of  the  placid  marble  bakers,  who 
would  rather  be  killed  sitting  down  comfort- 
ably than  make  the  exertion  necessary  either 
for  fighting  or  running  away  ?  Somebody  must 
protect  these  precious  old  duffers,  and  the  Penn- 
sylvanians  were  called  upon  and  ordered  to  see 
that  the  Knickerbockers  received  no  hurt. 

The  Quakers,  in  reply  to  this,  intimated  that 
if  Governor  Fletcher  was  spoiling  for  a  fight, 
they  had  one  right  there,  with  which  they 
could  accommodate  him,  and  before  they  took 
New  York  under  their  protecting  wings  they 
would  defend  Pennsylvania  from  his  arbitrary 
and  unjust  encroachments.  They  insisted  very 


Mt.  49.]  NOT  ANY  WAR   SUPPLY.  249 

humbly,  but  very  obstinately,  that  he  should 
confirm  all  the  laws  now  in  force  in  the  province 
of  Pennsylvania,  reminding  him  that  while  they 
acknowledged  him  as  their  lawful  Governor, 
and  admitted  that  his  administration  superseded 
William  Penn's,  yet  it  was  to  be  run  on  the  old 
William  Penn  basis  and  principles ;  and  they 
earnestly  besought  the  new  Governor  not  to  for- 
get it.  Having  thus  declared  their  rights  and 
manfully  asserted  their  privileges,  they  passed, 
among  other  bills,  an  act  imposing  a  tax  of  a 
penny  a  pound  on  the  clear  value  of  real  and 
personal  estate,  and  a  poll-tax  of  six  shillings  a 
head,  which  they  presented  the  Crown,  with  a 
request  that  one  half  thereof  be  allowed  to  the 
Governor, — which  was  more  than  the  ungrate- 
ful legislators  had  ever  done  for  William  Penn. 
They  made  no  grant  of  men  or  money  for  the 
defence  of  New  York,  for  which  wilful  neglect 
Fletcher  urged  the  King  to  form  New  York,  the 
Jerseys,  Pennsylvania,  and  Connecticut  into  one 
province,  when  the  Quakers  could  be  outvoted 
and  compelled  to  furnish  their  quota  of  troops 
and  money  for  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the 
war.  "  In  London,"  says  Dixon,  "  the  displeas- 
ure of  William  fell  on  the  absent  Governor,  and 


250  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1693. 

the  Privy  Council  even  ordered  the  Attorney- 
General  vigorously  to  inspect  his  patent,  and 
see  if  some  legal  flaw  could  not  be  found  in  it 
which  would  furnish  a  pretext  for  its  with- 
drawal altogether." 

Once  again  Governor  Fletcher  made  a  requi- 
sition on  Pennsylvania  for  money  and  troops  for 
the  defence  of  New  York,  and  once  more  he  did 
not  get  any.  He  modified  his  request  this  time, 
asking  the  non-combatants  to  clothe  and  feed 
the  Indians,  and  thus  secure  their  friendship 
for  the  colonies. 

This  was  one  hundred  and  eighty-eight  years 
ago,  but  it  seems  that  even  at  that  day  the 
North  American  Indians  were  unable,  or  un- 
willing, to  clothe  and  feed  themselves,  and  lived 
on  the  bounty  of  the  Government  just  as  they 
do  even  unto  this  day.  They  had  in  that  far- 
away time  the  same  excellent  and  carefully  cul- 
tivated voice  for  blankets  and  guns  and  beef  and 
bread  and  rum.  And  they  would  starve  before 
they  would  work  for  a  line  of  it.  They  were 
then,  as  to-day,  paupers.  When  Penn  is  writing 
from  Pennsylvania  about  killing  wild  turkeys 
and  pigeons  with  sticks,  and  Richard  Townsend 
drops  his  scythe  to  chase  the  wild  deer  out  of 


jEt.  49.]       BEGGING  FOR   WAR   SUPPLIES.  2jl 

his  meadow,  the  Indians  had  to  be  clothed  and 
fed  to  keep  them  from  starvation  and  the  war- 
path, and  they  would  fight  for  the  side  that  fed 
them  the  most.  An  Indian,  after  all,  is  more 
like  an  Indian  than  anything  else. 

The  Assembly  responded  promptly.  Had 
William  Penn,  who  loved  his  model  state  as  he 
loved  his  children,  who  had  ever  been  indulgent 
and  patient  and  liberal,  and  who  in  the  days  of 
his  opulence  supported  the  provincial  court  out 
of  his  own  pocket, — had  this  man  asked  them 
for  supplies,  the  Assembly  would  have  paid  no 
attention  to  his  request.  But  when  Governor 
Fletcher  stood  up  and  scowled  and  talked  bass, 
and  growled,  and  told  them  what  he  wanted  and 
that  he  was  going  to  have  it,  or — 

The  Assembly  voted  the  same  tax  as  before  so 
quickly  the  Governor  didn't  have  time  to  finish 
his  threat,  and  the  supply  thus  voted  amounted 
to  £760.  None  the  less  the  Assembly  stipulated 
that  Thomas  Lloyd  and  William  Markham, 
Deputy  Governors,  should  have  j£2oo  of  this. 
Fletcher  rejected  this  bill,  and,  the  Pennsylvan- 
ians  still  manfully  asserting  that  they  had  a 
right  to  dispose  of  the  money  they  appropriated, 
the  Assembly  was  dissolved,  and  no  way  had 


WILLIAM  PENN.  [1694. 

yet  been  discovered  of  making  the  Quakers  take 
part  in  the  French  war.  True  to  their  princi- 
ples, they  would  neither  fish  nor  cut  bait. 

Just  what  the  ancient  Pennsylvanians  thought 
of  themselves  at  this  time  nobody  knows,  for 
they  never  told,  and  if  they  had  said  anj^thing, 
honest  shame  would  have  impelled  them  to  lie 
about  it,  rather  than  give  posterity  an  honest 
judgment  on  themselves.  In  two  years  they 
had  voted,  with  marvellous  promptness,  a  sup- 
ply of  £1,500  to  a  soldier,  a  rough,  rude  man,  a 
stranger  careless  of  their  rights  or  consciences, 
and  William  Penn,  founder  of  their  state,  their 
benefactor  and  protector,  was  at  this  moment 
in  England,  begging  his  own  colonists  to  lend 
him  enough  money  to  bring  his  family  to  Amer- 
ica. And  they  wouldn't  let  him  have  it  on  any 
terms. 

That  is  the  manner  of  people  our  glorious  old 
ancestors  were. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  LAY  OF  THE  QUIT-RENTS. 

f 

OTUNG  by  the  ingratitude  of  the  colonists 
fc*  for  whom  he  had  sacrificed  his  fortune, 
but  still  hoping  that  he  might  yet  be  able  to 
work  out  to  a  bright  fruition  all  his  cherished 
hopes  for  his  "  model  state,"  Penn  set  to  work 
to  get  Pennsylvania  back  into  his  own  hands. 
He  sent  the  Queen  a  petition,  begging  an  inves- 
tigation of  all  matters  referring  to  the  alleged 
misconduct  of  his  province,  which  was  granted 
him,  and  resulted  in  his  reinstatement  as  Gov- 
ernor of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  Governor  once 
more,  but  he  couldn't  get  out  to  his  province. 
He  had  about  quit  asking  for  his  "  quit-rents."^) 
He  had  been  singing  on  that  key  for  ten  years, 
and  didn't  seem  to  touch  the  popular  chord.  . 
Now  he  tried  to  borrow  ,£10,000  of  one  hun- 
dred of  his  most  prosperous  settlers,  Dixon 
says,  offering  these  blessed  quit-rents  as  se- 
curity. But  the  one  hundred  prosperous  set- 


254  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1694. 

tiers  wouldn't  have  it.  Failing  in  this  little 
negotiation,  he  resolved  to  govern  his  province 
in  London,  rather  than  accept  a  steerage  ticket 
from  the  Emigration  Society  or  work  his  way 
over.*  He  appointed  William  Markham  his 
Lieutenant-Governor ;  Thomas  Lloyd,  his  for- 
mer deputy  and  one  of  his  intimate  friends,  was 
dead.  The  Five  Nations  of  Indians,  weary  of 
Pennsylvania  cookery  and  supplies,!  had  weak- 
ened on  the  children  of  Onas  and  joined  the 
French;  the  irreverent  savages  were  swarming 
in  the  vicinity  of  Albany,  knocking  the  Knick- 
erbockers about  as  though  they  were  only  com- 
mon people;  it  was  feared  that  the  Lenni 
Lenape  would  be  won  over  to  the  majority,  and 
who  would  care  for  the  sons  of  Onas  then? 
Penn  knew  that  he  had  the  law  and  the  right 
by  the  treaty  on  his  side,  but  he  was  afraid 
some  of  the  Iroquois  had  not  heard  of  the  de- 
cision and  might  scalp  a  few  Friends  before  they 
could  be  committed  for  contempt.  He  knew 
there  were  enough  men  in  the  province  who 


. 


*  It  never  occurred  to  the  Governor  t»  apply  for  a  pass,  or  to 
walk  around. 

\  If  the  Pennsylvania^  didn't  "supply"  the  Indians  better 
than  they  did  their  Governor,  it  is  easy  to  see  why  the  Indians 
went  over  to  the  French. 


JEt.  50.]  MORE  PAMPHLETS.  2$$ 

would  rather  fight  than  eat,  to  protect  the  non- 
combatants.  Eighty  men  were  appointed  as 
the  war  contingent  of  Pennsylvania,  with  enough 
money  to  run  them  three  months.  And  the  In- 
dians could  *  run  them  the  rest  of  the  time. 

While  he  governed  Pennsylvania  vicarious!}7, 
Penn  wrote  a  few  pamphlets,  and  a  preface  to 
the  Journal  of  George  Fox,  entitled  "  A  Brief 
Account  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  People 
called  Quakers,  in  which  their  Fundamental 
Principles,  Doctrines,  Worship,  Ministry,  and 
Discipline  are  plainly  declared;"  and  as  the  war 
in  America  was  over,  he  seemed  to  think  there 
was  no  necessity  for  his  returning  to  his  prov- 
ince now,  and  so  remained  in  England  writing 
pamphlets  and  preaching,  regularly  forgetting 
some  of  his  own  wise  maxims  and  never  learn- 
ing that  a  house  in  London  was  a  poor  resi- 
dence for  a  Governor  of  Pennsylvania.  "  It  is 
but  just,"  said  Penn  in  one  of  his  maxims,  "  that 
those  that  reign  by  their  princes  should  suffer 
for  their  princes;"  and  his  Pennsylvania  col- 
onists accepted  his  maxim.  "  Towards  the  set- 
tlers in  his  province,"  says  Dixon,  "  Penn  stood 

*  And  would. 


256  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1694 

exactly  in  the  position  of  a  feudal  lord :  the 
soil  and  the  government  were  his  personal 
property.  Though  in  his  first  charter  he  had 
given  up  many  of  his  rights,  enough  remained 
to  create  strife  and  bitterness  in  men  so  jealous 
of  power.  It  was  sufficient  that  he  traced  his 
rights  to  a  source  alien  to  their  choice,  to  rouse 
discontent." 

This  explains  to  a  certain  extent  the  obstinate 
refusal  of  the  Pennsylvanians  to  pay  the  pro- 
prietor his  long-sought  quit-rents.  The  tax 
itself  amounted  to  little, — a  mere  trifle, — but  the 
principle  was  a  great  one.  They  would  buy 
the  land  and  pay  for  it,  but  once  bought  it  was 
their  own,  and  in  their  refusal  to  pay  an  annual 
quit-rent  claimed  by  a  feudal  proprietor  was 
involved  the  same  principle  that  in  later  years 
Massachusetts  maintained  in  her  resistance  to 
the  tax  on  tea.  It  was  the  germ  of  democracy  in 
Pennsylvania  that  grew  into  life  and  developed 
strength  through  all  the  years,  until  it  came  to 
full  fruition  in  the  city  of  its  birth,  and  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  only  echoed  the 
resistance  of  the  Pennsylvanians  against  the 
quit-rents.  And  yet  William  Penn  thought 
he  was  establishing  a  free  republic,  a  pure 


Mi.  50.]  NO  QUIT-RENTS. 

democracy,  a  "  model  state,"  when  he  retained 
the  quit-rents  in  it,  and  when  he  insisted  so 
strongly  on  his  rights  and  privileges.  But 
while  this  liberty-loving  spirit  and  abhorrence 
of  feudalism  explain  the  persistent  refusal  of  the 
Pennsylvanians  to  pay  their  quit-rents,  they  do 
not  excuse  them  for  their  niggardly  and  un- 
grateful treatment  of  Penn  in  their  refusal  to 
grant  him  the  supplies  they  voted  so  promptly 
to  Fletcher. 

Among  other  important  affairs  of  the  prov- 
ince during  the  piping  times  of  peace  was  the 
presentment  of  Robert  Reman,  at  Chester,  for 
"  divining  with  a  stick."  The  grand  jury,  fully 
awake  to  the  demands  and  dangers  of  the 
times,  also  presented  as  a  vicious  book  "  Cor- 
nelius Agrippa's  Teaching  Negromancy."  It 
is  thought  the  grand  jury  made  some  search 
for  the  author  of  this  vicious,  profane,  and  idle 
work  on  necromancy,  under  the  impression  that 
he  was  somewhere  in  the  province.  But  they 
did  not  find  him.  He  was  gone.  Nobody 
knew  where,  but  it  was  some  place  outside  of 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Chester  grand  jury. 
The  Assembly,  in  1696,  secured,  after  a  long 
wrangle,  Lieutenant-Governor  Markham's  sig- 


258  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1696. 

nature  to  a  "  bill  of  settlement"  which  largely 
increased  the  power  of  that  body,  giving  it 
authority  to  originate  bills,  and  to  adjourn  and 
assemble  at  its  own  pleasure  rather  than  that  ot 
the  Governor.  And  for  these  concessions  it 
voted  an  appropriation  of  £300  for  the  support 
of  the  government  and  "for  the  relief  of  the 
distressed  Indians  of  New  York."  /The  stern 
duty  of  killing  off  the  superfluous  white  popula- 
tion of  New  York,  which  devolved  upon  these 
Indians,  was  a  severe  one,  entailing  upon  them 
constant  labor  and  almost  sleepless  vigilance.)1 
Many  of  the  New-Yorkers  had  to  be  chased 
ten  or  fifteen  miles  before  they  could  be  caught 
and  killed.  \( Some  of  them  were  opposed  to  the 
operation  of  scalping,  claiming  that  it  was  of  no 
benefit  whatever  as  a  preventive,  although  the 
Indians  assured  them  that  no  person  ever  had 
the  small-pox  after  being  scalped.  /Sometimes 
the  white  people  resisted,  and  many  Indians 
were  seriously  if  not  fatally  injured  in  the  per- 
formance of  this  duty,  v  The  braves  had  great 
callous  bunions  worn  on  their  hands  by  the 
constant  use  of  the  scalping-knife^  so  they  could 
now  perform  no  manual  labor.  |n  some  in- 
stances, depraved  old  Knickerbockers  had 


jEt.  52.]     SUFFERINGS  OF   THE  INDIANS. 

palmed  off  wigs  on  the  unsuspecting  savages 
for  scalps,  and  as  the  French  refused  to  pay  the 
usual  bounty  on  these  hair  goods,  the  poor  In- 
dians lost  heavily  in  such  transactions.  And 
when  one  noble  child  of  the  forest  brought  in  a 
basketful  of  scalps  taken  from  white  children 
under  three  years  of  age,  the  French  command- 
ant refused  to  receive  them  and  would  not  pay 
him  a  cent  for  the  lot,  and  the  poor  Indian  lost 
his  whole  week's  work,  and  was  so  depressed 
and  disappointed  that  he  never  scalped  another 
child,  but  devoted  all  his  time  and  talents  there- 
after to  lifting  the  snowy  locks  of  men  and 
women  of  seventy  years  and  upwards.  And 
now  the  war  was  over,  and  the  price  of  scalps 
had  fallen  until  they  weren't  worth  gathering, 
and  when  an  Indian  took  one  or  two,  just  to 
keep  his  hand  in,  the  pitiless  New-Yorkers 
would  fall  upon  him  and  cut  him  into  so  many 
pieces  that  the  coroner  would  scratch  himself 
bald  trying  to  decide  whether  it  was  a  powder- 
mill  or  freight-train. 

Oh,  how  sad  the  peace-loving  people  of  Penn- 
sylvania were  when  they  heard  of  the  sufferings 
of  these  poor,  overworked  Indians !  They  voted 
a  big  appropriation  for  their  relief  right  away. 


260  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1696. 

This  enabled  the  Indians  to  keep  along  until  the 
next  war  broke  out,  when  business  would  pick 
up  a  little.  In  accordance  with  this  ancient 
precedent,  it  has  ever  since  been  the  custom  of 
the  United  States  Government  to  :take  the  best 
care  of  the  worst  Indians.) 

Penn  continued  to  preach  and  write  without 
molestation,  save  in  one  instance,  when  he  was 
arrested  while  preaching  from  the  balcony  of 
an  inn,  the  arrest  being  made,  doubtless,  at  the 
instigation  of  a  lot  of  commercial  travellers  who 
wanted  to  sit  on  the  balcony  and  smoke,  and 
did  not  come  to  that  house  to  listen  to  a  sermon. 
Penn  showed  a  license  from  the  bishop,  how- 
ever, and  was  immediately  released  by  the 
magistrate,  to  the  great  mortification  of  the  con- 
stable, who  had  to  apologize  and  couldn't  collect 
his  fee.  After  this,  being  duly  licensed  accord- 
ing to  law,  Penn  preached  regularly. 

In  January  of  this  year  Penn  married  Miss 
Hannah  Callowhill,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Cal- 
lowhill,  a  Bristol  merchant,  and  in  a  few  weeks 
thereafter  his  eldest  son,  Springett,  died.  "  Much 
of  my  comfort  and  hope,  "writes  Penn,  "  and  one 
of  the  most  tender  and  dutiful,  as  well  as  in- 
genious and  virtuous  youths  I  knew,  if  I  may  say 


JEt.  52.]        DEATH  OF  HIS  FIRST  BORN.  26 1 

so  of  my  own  dear  child,  in  whom  I  lose  all  that 
any  father  could  lose  in  a  child,  since  he  was 
capable  of  anything  that  became  a  sober  young 
man,  my  friend  and  companion,  as  well  as 
most  affectionate  and  dutiful  child."  It  was 
indeed  a  heavy  loss  to  the  great  founder  of  Penn- 
sylvania, for  to  this  son,  inheriting  alike  the 
manly  courage  and  firm  convictions  of  his  father 
and  Guli  Springett's  "tenderness  and  softness 
of  nature,"  Penn  had  hoped  to  leave  his  pro- 
vince. Now,  alas !  the  next  heir  in  succession, 
his  son  William,  was  a  youth  of  some  good 
qualities,  clever/ generous  to  everybody  except 
his  father,:  brave  in  anything  but  morality,  wild 
in  his  tastes  and  desires,  sociable,  frank — in  fact, 
one  of  those  characters  usually  described  as 
"  nobody's  enemies  but  their  own,"  which  means 
they  are  everybody's  enemies.  Young  William 
was  not  exactly  the  promising  sort  of  youth  to 
leave  in  charge  of  a  rather  restless  province. 
And  even  now  that  province  was  growing  more 
and  more  restless,  assailing  the  Governor  and 
what  he  called  his  "  rights"  through  his  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor,  and  they  were  making  poor 
Markham  realize  the  truth  of  Penn's  maxim, 
"  It  is  but  just  that  those  that  reign  by  their 


262  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1696. 

princes  should  suffer  for  their  princes."  They 
badgered  him,  accused  him  of  defrauding  the 
revenue,  and  of  protecting  and  standing  in  with 
pirates  and  smugglers,  and  it  was  a  short  day 
when  they  couldn't  invent  or  discover  some 
new  cause  of  complaint.  All  this  time  William 
Penn  remained  in  England,  visited  Ireland,  went 
to  Deptford  to  convert  Peter  the  Great,  kept 
away  from  Pennsylvania  entirely,  and  was 
thereby  laying  up  a  great  store  of  experience 
from  which  he  could  some  day  write  a  pamphlet 
"  On  the  Exceeding  Great  Vanity  and  Foolish 
Idleness  of  Attempting  to  Lead  a  Horse  with  a 
Halter  Three  Thousand  Miles  Long  ;  Being  as 
it  were  the  Brief  Experience  of  a  Governor  in 
London  with  a  Province  in  America." 

The  Tsar  of  Russia,  of  all  the  Russias  in 
fact,  Peter  the  Great,  was  at  this  time  working 
in  the  royal  shipyard  at  Deptford,  as  a  ship- 
carpenter.  The  ancient  Quakers  had  mighty 
noses  for  a  king,  and  their  missionaries  got  into 
nearly  all  the  royal  palaces  and  prisons  in  Eu- 
rope, in  their  passion  for  converting  rulers  and 
real  dukes.  They  went  for  everything  that  sat 
on  a  throne,  from  the  Pope  himself  down  to 
the  German  prince  of  an  eighty-acre  Hesse 


Mt.  52.]         AN  EDIFYING  INTERVIEW.  263 

something,  or  a  Dutch  monarch  who  lived  and 
reigned  with  his  cows  in  a  wind-mill.  Any- 
thing, so  it  was  a  king.  Of  course,  when  the 
Tsar  came  to  Deptford,  where  he  worked  in 
the  dockyard  by  day  and  got  drunk  wherever 
he  could  find  cheap  rum  at  night,  the  Friends 
made  a  dead  set  for  him.  Thomas  Story  and 
Gilbert  Molleson  visited  him,  and  wrestled  with 
him,  and  sought  to  interest  him  on  the  subject 
of  religion,  their  own  denomination  preferred, 
because  Peter  was,  after  the  religion  of  his 
fathers,  a  violently  pious  man.  Peter  was  much 
amused  at  their  great  bareback  hat  act,  which 
they  explained  very  fully  to  him,  and  taught 
him  how  to  do  it.  These  two  missionaries 
knew  no  Russian  or  German,  and  Peter  knew 
no  English,  so  they  were  soon  convinced  they 
had  converted  the  Tsar.  They  gave  him  "  Bar- 
clay's Apology,"  in  Latin;  gave  him  two  copies 
of  it,  so  that  when  he  had  read  one  copy  to 
pieces  he  could  start  in  on  the  other.  Peter 
was  greatly  edified  by  this  Latin  book.  He 
knew  about  as  much  Latin  as  the  missionaries 
knew  Russian,  and  probably  did  not  read  that 
book  through  in  fifty  years.  But  the  joyous 
missionaries  spread  the  tidings  of  the  imperial 


264  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1697. 

conversion,  and  William  Penn  went  with  Prince 
Menzikoff  to  York  Buildings,  where  Peter  held 
his  imperial  sprees  incognito,  to  land  this  mighty 
fish.  He  found  the  royal  Muscovite  curious 
and  attentive,  but  still  a  most  hopeless  case  of 
Quaker. 

"  You  are  a  new  people/'  said  the  Tsar;  "  will 
you  fight  any  better  than  others  ?" 

They  told  him  they  would  permit  the  smallest 
state  in  South  America  to  open  their  mail,  in- 
sult their  ministers,  kill  their  chickens,  and  kick 
them  all  over  their  own  house,  without  offering 
to  strike  back. 

"  Then,"  said  the  Tsar,  "  the  United  States  is 
the  right  place  for  you.  We  have  no  use  for 
you  in  Russia."  * 

Penn  was  an  excellent  German  scholar,  and 
conversed  easily  with  Peter  in  this  language. 
The  Muscovite  attended  several  Quaker  meet- 
ings, and  the  Baptists  and  Presbyterians  fairly 
howled  with  envy.  Penn  wrote  the  "P&ar  a 
letter,  and  Janney  says,  "  The  impression  pro- 


*  Peter  might  have  given  William  rome  excellent  hints  about 
managing  his  province,  and  how  to  wring  the  slow-moving 
quit-rents  out  of  reluctant  tenants,  had  Penn  only  asked  him 
about  it. 


iEt  52.]        INTO  POLITICS  ONCE  MORE.  265 

duced  upon  the  Tsar  by  this  intercourse  with 
Friends  in  England  appears  to  have  been  last- 
ing." It  may  have  been  lasting,  but  it  certainly 
wasn't  de»p,  because  Peter  began  beheading 
the  Streltzi  and  fighting  with  his  neighbors  soon 
after  he  returned  to  Russia,  and  kept  it  up  with 
little  intermission  as  long  as  he  was  able  to  lead 
an  army.  When  he  wasn't  actively  at  war  with 
some  foreign  foe,  he  was  beating  his  companions 
in  uproarious  sprees,  and  making  various  public 
and  private  free-for-all  exhibitions  of  his  violent 
and  ungovernable  temper.  Peter  the  Great  was 
not,  in  a  moral  view,  a  very  promising  convert 
for  any  denomination. 

Penn  cautiously,  or  rather,  considering  what 
his  experience  had  taught  him,  incautiously 
waded  into  politics  again.  He  couldn't  keep 
out  of  it.  The  House  of  Commons  was  debat- 
ing a  bill  against  blasphemy,  and  Penn  rushed 
in  with  a  pamphlet—"  A  cautious  Requisite 
in  its  consideration,  showing  the  necessity  of 
explaining  the  word  Blasphemy,  etc."  The 
affrighted  House,  dreading  lest  Penn  had  once 
more  become  addicted  to  the  pamphlet  habit, 
dropped  the  bill  before  the  Speaker  could  an- 
nounce its  full  title,  and  promised,  if  Penn  would 


266  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1697. 

not  write  any  more  pamphlets,  they  would 
never  look  at  the  document  again. 

It  being  now  very  necessary  that  Penn  should 
return  at  once  to  Pennsylvania,  he  .packed  his 
trunks  and  went  to  Ireland,  to  hold  a  few  meet- 
ings and  look  after  his  Irish  estates,  which  by 
this  time  he  had  recovered,  their  former  owners 
being  without  any  such  influence  at  court  as 
Penn  had  been  able  to  use  for  his  friend  Sir 
Robert  Coltness.  As  Penn  wrote  to  the  Tsar, 
"the  Quakers  were  an  industrious  people  in 
their  generation,  and  though  against  superfluity, 
yet  lovers  of  ingenuity."  And  he  was  "  ingeni- 
ous" enough  to  live  in  London  and  govern,  or 
rather  govern  at,  a  province  in  America,  and 
hold  on  to  the  estates  in  Ireland  which  had 
been  given  his  father  as  his  reward  for  serving 
two  opposing  governments  at  the  same  time, — 
an  "  ingenious "  piece  of  statecraft  which  has 
brought  many  of  our  modern  statesmen  to  the 
ground.  But  they  worked  these  things  better 
in  Sir  William  Penn's  time. 

Formerly,  when  Penn  travelled,  he  left  Guli 
and  the  children  at  home.  On  this  occasion,  it 
will  be  observed,  Mrs.  Penn  and  the  children 
went  with  him.  On  this  journey  Penn  preached 


j£t.  53.]       HORSES  FOR    THE  HOSSIFERS.  267 

a  great  deal,  looked  after  his  estate  of  Shan- 
garry  Castle,  and  was  unable  to  get  into  prison 
or  any  serious  trouble.  On  only  one  or  two  oc- 
casions was  he  molested.  By  an  act  of  Parlia- 
ment, any  man  was  allowed  to  seize  any  horse 
worth  more  than  five  guineas  belonging  to  a 
Catholic,  and  retain  it  on  paying  or  tendering 
that  amount.  Under  this  "  Act  to  make  horse- 
stealing  safe  and  easy,"  when  a  man  saw  a  good 
horse  in  possession  of  a  stranger,  he  merely  ac- 
cused the  stranger  of  being  a  Papist,  and  offered 
him  five  guineas  for  his  steed.  When  Penn  and 
his  friends,  on  one  of  their  missionary  tours  in 
Ireland,  arrived  at  Ross,  they  ordered  their 
horses  ferried  across  the  Nore,  while  they  "  re- 
turned to  the  tavern  and  refreshed  themselves 
after  their  long  ride."*  Two  young  officers 
saw  the  excellent  horses  of  the  Quakers,  and, 
informing  the  Mayor  that  Penn  and  his  friends 
were  Catholics,  took  the  animals,  swearing  to 
their  information  with  the  easy  grace  that  was 
known  only  to  the  regularly  ordained  liars  of  the 
established  church  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
A  few  of  the  horses  had  been  ferried  over  before 

*  That  is,  each  man  called  for  what  he  wanted — same  as  they 
do  now. 


268  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1697. 

the  authorized  robbery  could  be  made,  and  with 
these  Penn  and  some  of  his  friends  went  on  their 
way,  the  other  members  of  the  party  remaining 
to  sue  out  a  replevin  for  the  rest  of  the  animals. 
The  officers  who  stole  the  horses  were  placed 
under  arrest,  and  but'  for  Penn's  gracious  inter- 
cession they  would  have  been  dishonorably  dis- 
missed the  service.*  Penn  wrote  a  few  pam- 
phlets while  in  Ireland,  and  had  a  wind-mill  with 
Rev.  John  Plympton,  a  deep-water  Baptist,  and 
a  little  set-to  with  the  pamphlets  with  the 
Bishop  of  Cork,  a  home-rule  agrarian,  high 
Trinitarian,  lights-on-the-altar  young  man.  Penn 
whipped,  in  both  instances.  He  says  he  did, 
himself. 

At  Cashel,  the  meeting  of  the  Quakers  was 
invaded  by  the  Mayor  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Bishop,  who  ordered  the  Friends  to  disperse, 
which  they,  with  great  promptness  and  sub- 
mission to  his  will,  did  not.  \  The  discussion 
began  to  wax  warm,  when  Penn,  who  was  not 
in  the  meeting,  but  was  in  an  adjoining  room, — 
having  heard,  perhaps,  that  John  Vaughton  was 

*  In  Texas  they  would  have  been  invited  to  a  neck-tie  party 
under  a  tree.  Dancing  in  the  air.  Music  by  the  string-band. 
No  cards. 


,Et.  53.]     GATHERING  IN  THE   SHEKELS.  269' 

going  to  preach, — sent  for  the  Mayor,  talked  to 
him  gently  but  firmly,  as  one  talks  to  a  friend 
when  he  comes  to  borrow  money,  and  finally 
sent  him  away,  and  the  meeting  was  resumed 
with  redoubled  silence.  The  Bishop  afterward 
explained  to  Penn  that  he  was  angry  because 
all  his  congregation  went  off  to  the  Quaker 
meeting  and  left  him  only  the  bare  walls  to 
preach  to.  He  did  not  mind  preaching  to  the 
bare  walls  and  empty  benches,  he  said ;  in  fact, 
he  rather  preferred  them  to  his  usual  congrega- 
tion, as  being  superior  in  general  intelligence 
and  Christianity,  but  they  didn't  pan  out  nearly 
so  well  in  the  assay  for  collections.  Penn  im- 
mediately wrote  him  a  pamphlet,  and  the  mat- 
ter dropped.  Afterward  Penn  held  meetings 
and  preached  to  the  land-leaguers  in  Cork,  and 
in  Kildare,  Limerick,  Kilkenny,  Tipperary,  and 
other  counties  famous  for  the  peaceful  and  law- 
abiding  disposition  of  the  natives.  He  also 
went  to  the  barony  of  Imokelly,  "  where  lay  a 
great  part  of  his  Irish  estates,"  and  thence  "  to 
the  barony  of  Ibaune  and  Barryoe,  to  view  the 
rest  of  his  estates  in  those  parts."  He  had  no 
trouble  now  about  collecting  "  quit-rents"  from 
his  Irish  tenantry.  Ibaune  an$  Barryoe  and 


2JO  WILLIAM  PENiV.  [1697. 

Imokelly  were  going  to  pay  rents  for  nearly 
two .  hundred  years  before  they  got  hold  of  the 
"Pennsylvania  idea"  of  non-resident  proprie- 
tors and  quit-rents.  Ireland  was  a  thousand 
years  older  than  Pennsylvania,  but  the  ideas  in 
Pennsylvania  were  as  new  as  the  land. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE   GOVERNOR  ON  DECK. 

F)ETURNINOr  from  Ireland,  Penn  was  once 
1  v  more  forcibly  impressed  with  the  fact  that 
he  was  needed  in  Pennsylvania,  and  accordingly 
looked  around  for  some  place  else  to  which  he 
could  go.  Finally  he  compromisecT  by  going 
down  to  Deptford  and  seeing  Thomas  Story 
embark  for  the  western  world.  But  even  the 
departure  of  Thomas  Story  did  not  allay  the 
dissensions  in  the  province.  Markham  had  re- 
fused to  pass  the  Jamaica  Act  against  pirates, 
he  had  imprisoned  a  Commissioner  for  the 
Crown,  just  to  show  him  who  was  running  the 
machine  in  Pennsylvania,  and  Colonel  Quarry, 
a  revenue  officer  sent  to  the  provinces  by  the 
King,  made  the  most  and  the  worst  of  the  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor's folly  ;  the  provincial  govern- 
ment, he  reported,  refused  to  assist  him  in  catch- 
ing pirates,  and  when  he  did  catch  any  the 
Quakers  refused  to  put  them  in  jail,  lest  the 
pirate  might  have  been  pirating  from  a  sense  of 
duty,  and  thus  be  punished  for  conscience'  sake. 


272  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1698. 

At  last  matters  became  so  bad  in  the  province, 
or  at  least  Colonel  Quarry  presented  them  in 
such  a  bad  light,  that  the  Council  deprived 
Colonel  Markham  of  his  powers  for  five  years. 
Added  to  this,  word  had  reached  Penn  that 
there  were  altogether  too  many  drinking-houses 
in  Philadelphia  for  a  city  where  all  the  houses 
looked  so  much  like  one.  another  that  it  was  a 
difficult  matter  for  even  a  sober  man  to  pick  out 
his  own  residence  after  darkJ  And  finally,  Penn 
drew  upon  his  agents  in  the  province  for  "  three 
hundred  and  odd  pounds,"  and  the  draft  came 
back  protested.  In  those  times  it  ruffled  a  man's 
spirits  beyond  all  description  to  have  a  draft 
come  back  protested,  as  it  does  to-day  ;  and  as 
people  are  very  much  like  other  people,  Penn 
received  this  wayward  draft  very  much  as  a  man 
receives  a  distant  relative,  poor  but  honest, 
whom  he  has  not  seen  for  thirty-two  years 
and  does  not  wish  to  see  for  thirty-two  years 
more.  )  Penn  wrote  to  the  delinquents  at  once. 
"  Loving  friends,"  he  begins  his  letter — "  Loving 
friends,*  is  it  not  my  right  by  public  obligation 
to  six  hundred  pounds?" — because  for  that  sum 

/  *  If  they  had  loved  him  less  and   paid  him  more,  they  had    \ 
•;'  been  better  friends. 


J£t.  54. J        MORE  LOVE    THAN  MONEY.  273 

he  had  relinquished  certain  customs  voted  to 
him ;  that  is,  he  had  relinquished  the  customs, 
and  now  he  had  the  six  hundred  pounds,  at 
least  he  had  it  to  get.  And  "  all  my  expenses 
in  two  years'  withstanding  of  Edward  Randall, 
at  my  great  charge,"  "  my  expenses  in  coming 
over  and  prosecuting  the  dispute  with  Lord 
Baltimore,  which  held  near  a  year,"  "and  last 
of  all,  my  quit-rents,  of  which  I  have  not  seen 
for  twelve  years  one  sixpence."  No  matter  how 
Penn  began  a  letter  to  his  colony,  it  was  sure 
to  run  into  the  quit-rents  before  it  got  down  to 
"  Y'rs  tr'ly." 

i  His  "  loving  friends"  were  deeply  touched  by 
the  beautiful  and  just  sentiments  expressed  in 
this  letter,  and  immediately  did  not  send  him 
his  money.  (They  valued  Penn  as  a  friend  ;  as 
a  Governor,  they  respected  him  ;  as  a  religious 
teacher  and  guide,  they  venerated  him  ;  and  as  a 
just  and  humane  creditor,  they  swindled  him.  \ 
At  last  Penn,  all  the  other  places  being  closed, 
packed  his  hat-box  and,  accompanied  by  his  wife 
and  his  daughter  Letitia,*  sailed  for  America, 

*  In  some  of  the  Quaker  biographies  of  Penn  this  daughter 
is  called  Letty,  and  Penn  himself  calls  her  Tishe;  but  in  a  work    j 
of  this  gravity  and  severity  such  vain  babbling  and  idle  appel- 
lations cannot  be  admitted. 


274  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1699. 

September  9,  1699.  It  does  not  appear  that 
Mrs.  Penn  or  Letitia  felt  any  gnawing  desire  to 
come  to  America,  nor  did  they  want  to  stay 
after  they  got  here,  and  Penn  has  been  blamed 
for  yielding  to  their  importunities  and  influence, 
and  absenting  himself  from  the  province  which 
so  much  needed  the  wisdom  and  strength  of  his 
personal  government.  William  Penn,  Jr.,  did 
not  come.  This  rapid  young  man  remained  in 
London  to  complete  his  education,  having  quite 
a  number  of  evil  and  iniquitous  habits  to  form 
before  he  felt  himself  competent  to  govern  a 
turbulent  province  that  was  much  given  to  feed- 
ing Indians  and  evading  its  quit-rents. 

Three  months  the  Penn  family  tossed  on  the 
waves  of  the  restless  sea,  and  then  landed  at 
Philadelphia  on  Sunday, — which  was  not  right. 
The  "yellow  fever"  had  been  raging  in  Phila- 
delphia through  the  autumn  months,  and  was 
just  abating  when  Penn  arrived.  The  death- 
rate  had  run  up  to  seven  and  eight  a  day,  and 
Story  says  in  his  journal :  "  Great  was  the  fear 
that  fell  upon  all  flesh.  I  saw  no  lofty  nor  airy 
countenance,  nor  heard  any  vain  jesting  to  move 
men  to  laughter;  nor  witty  repartee  to  raise 


jEt.  54.]    TRAGEDY  OF   THE  EMPTY  GUN.         2?$ 

mirth ;  nor  extravagant  feasting  to  excite  the 
lusts  and  desires  of  the  flesh  above  measure ; 
but  every  face  gathered  paleness,  and  many 
hearts  were  humbled,  and  countenances  fallen 
and  sunk,  as  of  those  who  waited  every  moment 
to  be  summoned  to  the  bar  and  numbered  to 
the  grave." 

Friend  Story  also  relates  that  the  Yearly 
Meeting  of  the  Friends  was  held  at  the  usual 
time,  notwithstanding  the  plague,  and  that 
"there  was  not  one  taken  ill  during  the  whole 
time  of  the  meeting,  either  of  those  that  came 
there  on  that  account,  or  of  the  people  of  the 
town."  Just  why  the  Board  of  Health  did  not 
order  the  meeting  to  remain  in  session,  then, 
until  the  epidemic  disappeared,  one  cannot  un- 
derstand. Perhaps  it  was  thought  to  be  vain 
and  undignified  to  use  the  Yearly  Meeting  as  a 
general  colonial  vaccination. 

When  Penn  landed  at  Chester,  the  usual  thing 
happened.  Two  young  men,  /'probably  stu- 
dents from  the  Pennsylvania  Military  Institute, 
founded  a  great  many  years  later,  fired  a  salute 
from  two  small  field-pieces,  p.nd  one  of  the  men 
ran  his  arm  down  the  gun  to  see  if  it  was 


276  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1699. 

loaded.*  '  It  is  an  instructive  study  in  human 
nature/this  simple  fact  that  even  two  hundred 
years  ago  two  men  and  a  cannon  could  not  get 
together  and  separate  with  more  than  three 
arms  for  the  crowd.)  Just  enough  to  go  around. 
But  then  one  man,  the  monopolist  of  the  party, 
would  have  two  thirds  of  the  stock.  As  usual, 
the  sad  affair  cast  a  gloom  over  the  entire  com- 
munity. 

Penn  lost  no  time  in  convening  his  Council 
and  the  General  Assembly,  and  made  them  un- 
derstand that  the  Governor  was  on  deck.  With 
his  characteristic  energy  he  fairly  compelled  the 
Assembly  to  enact  laws  for  the  "  prevention  of 
illicit  trade"  and  "  the  discouragement  of  piracy." 
Perhaps  it  would  have  been  just  as  well  to  make 
them  for  the  discouragement  of  illicit  trade  and 
the  prevention  of  piracy.  But  our  glorious  an- 
cestors  didn't  seem  to  want  to  be  too  hard  on 
the  poor  pirates,  f  Piracy  was  a  genteel  occu- 
pation at  that  time.  Soon  after  Penn  arrived  at 
Philadelphia,  two  alleged  pirates  were  arrested, 
and  one  of  them  was  the  son-in-law  of  Lieuten- 
ant-Go vernor  Markham,  Penn's  cousin.  It  took 


*  It  was.  f  Perhaps  the  pirates  "loved  their  Queen.' 


l£t.  54.]  PENNSBURY  MANOR. 

the  Assembly  sixteen  days  to  pass  these  two 
bills.  When  it  is  remembered  how  proud  Penn 
was  seventeen  years  before,  when  his  first  As- 
sembly passed  fifty-nine  laws  in  three  days,  it 
will  be  seen  how  rapidly  the  legislature  was  im- 
proving and  modernizing  itself.  The  later  legis- 
lature required  more  grease  to  make  it  run 
smoothly.  And  the  pirates  and  illicit  traders 
had  evidently  "greased"  it. 

"  On  their  arrival  at  Philadelphia,"  says  Jan- 
ney,  "  the  Governor  and  his  family  went  to 
lodge*  at  Edward  Shippen's,  where  they  re- 
mained about  a  month.  Penn  then  took  a  house 
known  as  the  slate-roof  house,  on  Second  Street, 
between  Chestnut  and  Walnut,  at  the  southeast 
corner  of  Norris'  Alley.  Here  was  born,  about 
two  months  after  they  landed,  his  son  John,  the 
only  one  of  his  children  born  in  this  country, 
and  therefore  called  '  the  American.'  " 

Pennsbury,  the  Governor's  country  mansion, 
on  the  Delaware  near  the  falls  of  Trenton,  was  a 
very  comfortable  hovel  for  a  starving  child  of 
poverty  who  couldn't  get  his  quit-rents,  and 
didn't  care  for  the  vanities  and  frills  and  "gaudy 

J*  This   confirms   our   previous   suspicion   that   Penn   was  a    \ 
ilason. 


278  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1699. 

carpets  and  side-boards  "  of  this  idle  old  world. 
Markham  originally  laid  out  an  estate  here  of 
about  eight  thousand  acres,  but  the  Governor 
gave  much  of  it  away.  The  hut  in  which  the  pov- 
erty-stricken Governor  hid  his  gaunt  form  in  the 
times  of  the  quit-rent  famine  was  two  stories  high, 
built  of  "  fine  brick,"  and  covered  with  tiles.  It 
had  a  front  of  sixty  feet  on  the  Delaware,  with  a 
superb  view  of  the  river.  The  house  was  forty 
feet  deep,  "  and  the  brew-house,  a  large  wooden 
building  covered  with  shingles,  stood  back  some 
little  distance  from  the  mansion,  and  was  con- 
cealed among  the  trees."  "  I  am  a  man  of  quiet 
tastes,"  said  Penn,  and  then  he  went  back  to  the 
brew-house,  amid  the  all-concealing  trees,  and 
tasted  something.  The  rooms  of  the  manor- 
house  were  arranged  in  suites.  [  "  Suites  to 
sweet/'^said  Penn  to  Hannah,  although  the 
house  had  been  built  for  Guli.  The  interior 
ornaments  and  decorations  had  been  sent  from 
England.  The  shanty  was  comfortably  fur- 
nished. I  quote  from  Dixon :  "  Mahogany  was 
a  luxury  then  unknown ;  but  his  spider  tables 
and  high-backed  carved  chairs  were  of  the  finest 
oak.  An  inventory  of  the  furniture  is  still  ex- 
tant ;  there  were  a  set  of  Turkey  worked  chairs, 


&t.  54.]  A    COMFORTABLE  HOVEL. 

arm-chairs  for  ease,  and  couches  with  plush  and 
satin  cushions  for  luxury  and  beauty.  In  the 
parlor  stood  the  great  leather  chair  of  the  pro- 
prietor; in  every  room  were  found  cushions 
and  curtains  of  satin,  camlet,  damask,  and  striped 
linen;  and  there  is  a  carpet  mentioned  as  being 
in  one  apartment,  though  at  that  period  such 
an  article  was  hardly  ever  seen  except  in  the 
palaces  of  kings.  His  side-board  furniture  was 
also  that  of  a  gentleman ;  it  included  a  service 
of  silver, — plain  but  massive, — blue  and  white 
china,  a  complete  set  of  Tunbridge  ware,  and  a 
great  quantity  of  damask  table-cloths  and  fine 
napkins.  The  table  was  served  as  became  his 
rank,  plainly  but  plentifully.  Ann  Nichols  was 
his  cook ;  and  he  used  to  observe  in  his  plea- 
santry, "Ah,  the  book  of  cookery  has  outgrown 
the  Bible,  and  I  fear  is  read  oftener ;  to  be  sure, 
it  is  of  more  use.'  His  cellars  were  well  stocked  ; 
Canary,  claret,  sack,  and  Madeira  being  the  fa- 
vorite wines  consumed  by  his  family  and  their 
guests.  Besides  these  nobler  drinks  there  was 
a  plentiful  supply,  on  all  occasions  of  Indian  or 
general  festivity,  of  ale  and  cider.*  Penn's  own 

*This  was  not   the   common   five-a-glass  cider  that  feebly 
struggles  to  keep  pace  with  the  pink  lemonade  of  the  circus  of 


280  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1699. 

wine  seems  to  have  been  Madeira ;  and  he  cer- 
tainly had  no  dislike  to  the  temperate  pleasures 
of  the  table.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  his  stew- 
ard, Sotcher,  he  writes :  '  Pray  send  us  some  two 
or  three  smoked  haunches  of  venison  and  pork 
— get  them  from  the  Swedes ;  also  some  smoked 
shads  and  beefs ;'  adding  with  delicious  unction, 
'  the  old  priest  at  Philadelphia  had  rare  shads.'  " 
Moreover,  Penn  rode  and  drove  only  thorough- 
bred horses,  of  the  best  blood  in  England ; 
kept  his  own  "yacht," — at  least  it  was  called  a 
yacht  then ;  it  is  described  as  a  six-oar  barge, 
and  all  the  time  he  was  in  England  he  would  al- 
low no  one  to  use  it.  William  Penn  and  his 
family  dressed  well,  and  not  in  very  Quakerly 
style.  "  The  ladies  wore  caps  and  buckles,  silk 
gowns,  and  gold  ornaments."  While  in  Amer- 
ica, "  Penn  had  no  less  than  four  wigs,  all  in  the 
same  year,  purchased  at  a  cost  of  nearly  twenty 
pounds."  He  countenanced  "  innocent  country 
dances"  by  his  own  presence  and  the  attend- 
ance of  his  family.  And  while  he  lived  well 
and  in  a  manner  and  style  befitting  the  station 
and  dignity  of  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania 

to-day.     It  was  a  New  Jersey  brand,  and  a  pint  of  it  would 
double  up  a  Conestoga  sachem  at  forty  yards. 


Ml.  54.]  SIC   TRANSIT  OF  VENUS.  28 1 

» 

and  a  well-bred  English  gentleman  of  noble 
family,  he  was  charitable  and  generous,  and  the 
needy  and  sick  ever  found  in  him  a  friend  who 
always  coupled  his  words  of  cheer  with  a  loaf 
of  bread,  and  never  took  his  hand  out  of  his 
pocket  empty.  And  his  handsome  house  at 
Pennsbury,  his  well-spread  table,  his  pleasant 
hospitality,  and  his  Christian,  unassuming,  mod- 
est philanthropy  wasn't  costing  the  province 
of  Pennsylvania  a  cent. 

Pennsbury  has  passed  away,  with  so  many 
other  mementos  of  the  great  Quaker  in  this 
country,  into  the  hands  of  the  omnipresent  relic- 
hunter.  Some  time  about  1780  the  manor-house 
was  torn  down  and  distributed.  A  chair  that 
belonged  to  Penn  is  now  in  the  Pennsylvania 
Hospital;*  John  Smith  has  another;  so  has 
Thomas  Jackson ;  so  has  Mrs.  Belvawney ;  all 
the  Joneses  have  one  apiece ;  and  every  student 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  is  presented 
with  one  when  he  graduates,  and  if  he  belongs 
to  the  Phi  Kappa  Psi  fraternity,  which  was 
founded  by  Penn,  he  gets  two.  j  William  Penn 
didn't  do  anything,  while  he  was  in  America, 

*  This  chair  is  genuine. 


282  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1699. 

but  sit  down  in  chairs  for  the  benefit  of  pos- 
terity. He  was  a  thorough-bred  long-haired 
English  setter. 

He  hated  tobacco,  and  "on  one  occasion  Gov- 
ernor Jennings,  of  New  Jersey  (who  was  also 
an  eminent  minister  among  Friends),  and  some 
of  his  friends  were  enjoying  their  pipes,  a  prac- 
tice which  the  gentlemanly  Penn  disliked.  On 
hearing  that  Penn's  barge  was  in  sight,  they 
put  away  their  pipes,  that  their  friend  might 
not  be  annoyed,  and  endeavored  to  conceal 
from  him  what  they  were  about.  He  came 
upon  them,  however,  somewhat  suddenly,  and 
pleasantly  remarked  that  he  was  glad  they  had 
sufficient  sense  of  propriety  to  be  ashamed  of 
the  practice.  Jennings,  rarely  at  a  loss  for  an 
answer,  rejoined  that  they  were  not  ashamed, 
but  desisted  to  avoid  hurting  a  weak  brother."  * 
In  connection  with  this  pleasant  anecdote  it 
may  be  edifying  to  quote,  from  the  same  author- 
ity, from  a  letter  written  by  the  great  tobacco- 
hater  to  his  secretary  about  this  time :  "  Let  the 
Indians  come  hither  and  send  in  the  boats  for 
more  rum,  and  the  match-coats,  and  let  the 

* Janney. 


J&t.  54.]     OLD   SETTLER  REMINISCENCES.  283 

Council  adjourn  to  this  place."  "  More  rum" 
has  always  been  a  very  poor  civilizer  with  the 
Indians.  More  tobacco  and  less  rum  has  ever 
a  much  better  effect  upon  the  noble  red  man, 
and  William  Penn's  ordinarily  level  head  was 
very  hilly  on  the  subject  of  rum  and  tobacco. 

Only  the  ruins  of  the  brew-house,  it  is  said, 
now  remain  of  the  pleasant  estate  of  Pennsbury. 
(The  old  manor-house  itself  has  joined  the  in- 
numerable caravan  of  Penn  chairs,  has  been  sat 
down  upon  literally,  anc^  lives  only  in  the  ten- 
der memories  of  white-haired  old  prevarica- 
tors who  never  saw  it.)  But  the  memory  of  its 
courtly,  gentle  master,  his  manly  qualities  and 
Christian  virtue's,  his  patience  and  unselfishness, 
the  sorrows  and  triumphs  of  his  life,  live  on  and 
on,  over  the  decay  of  all  these  material  and 
unnecessary  reminders  of  his  existence. 

The  winter  of  1699  is  said  by  the  oldest  in- 
habitants of  that  time  to  have  been  one  of  almost 
unprecedented  severity,  although,  in  deference 
to  our  own  oldest  inhabitants,  we  question  if 
there  have  not  been  since  that  time  winters  of 
such  exceeding  cold  that  their  resentments  are 
not  to  be  countenanced  by  any  winter  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  Sutcliff,  in  his  "  Travels  in 


284  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1699. 

Some  Parts  of  North  America,"  relates  as  some- 
thing remarkable  an  anecdote  of  the  Founder. 
One  night  William  Penn,  in  his  travels  during 
this  cold  winter,  lodged  at  the  house  of  some 
person  whose  name  is  not  given,  or  else  is  sup- 
pressed for  family  reasons,  as  it  is  the  most  im- 
portant name  in  the  story.  Knowing  the  habits 
of  that  family  in  its  entertainment  of  guests, 
people  would  like  to  know  the  family  name,  in 
order  to  avoid  the  houses  of  the  descendants.^) 
It  seems,  from  the  narrative,  that  after  Penn 
went  to  his  room  the  family  was  seized  with  an 
uncontrollable  desire  to  know  how  a  Governor 
appeared  when  he  crawled  into  the  forbidding 
awfulness  of  a  spare-room  bed,  and  wrapped 
the  drapery  of  the  36°-below  blankets  and  zinc- 
plate  sheets  about  him  and  lay  down  to  freeze. 
So  the  family  went  up  and  successively  pasted 
/their  eyes  against  the  key-hole  and  looked  in  at 
the  shivering  Quaker  preparing  for  death  on 
Mont  Blanc.  /  Sutcliff  says  only  a  boy  twelve 
years  old  went  up,  but  Sutcliff  lived  near  the 
seashore  and  must  have  been  accustomed  to 
relating  stories  for  marines  only,  because  every- 
body knows  that  the  last  person  in  the  house  to 
think  of  that  key-hole  act  would  be  the  boy. 


JEt.  54-]  TOO   THIN.  285 

He  never  thought  of  it  until  he  saw  the  rest 
of  the  family  coming  down,  suspiciously  and 
supernaturally  innocent  as  to  demeanor,  and 
red  as  to  one  eye. )  At  all  events,  the  boy  went 
up  and  glued  his  eye  to  the  key-hole,  remained 
there  until  he  was  almost  frozen,  and  then  came 
down  and  reported  that  he  saw  the  Governor 
kneel  down  at  his  bedside  and  repeat  his  even- 
ing prayer.  Now,  it  is  well  known  that  the 
habit  of  prayer  was  not  so  unusual  with  William 
Penn  that  his  host's  family  had  to  go  about 
speering  through  key-holes  to  prove  it  on  him. 
If  the  story  is  true,  and  undoubtedly  it  is  true, 
although  extremely  unimportant,  the  only  re- 
markable thing  about  it  is  that  the  Governor 
should  kneel  down  to  pray  in  a  parlor  bed-room 
in  December.  It  seems  hardly  possible  that 
the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  should  not  know 
that  it  is  the  custom  in  America,  when  a  man  is 
sentenced  to  be  confined  for  one  night  in  the 
Arctic  horrors  of  an  old-fashioned  "  spare 
room,"  for  him  to  plunge  into  bed  with  his 
overcoat  and  boots  on,  and  chatter  his  shiver- 
ing prayers  under  the  frigid  blankets.* 


*  Erratum. — Read  blanket.     There  is  never  more  than  one. 


286  WILLIAM  PENN.  [i6Q> 

In  his  "  Historical  Notes"  Mr.  Benjamin  JYI. 
Nead  says  there  was  no  choice  of  representa- 
tives for  the  Assembly  of  1699  from  New 
Castle,  owing  to  a  disturbance  at  the  polls, 
and  "  Sheriff  Joseph  Wood  forwarded,  as  his 
return,  a  half-sheet  of  blank  paper  only,  and  a 
letter  containing  this  message :  '  I  here  enclosed 
send  you  the  names  of  the  Council  and  Assem- 
blymen chosen  here  on  the  loth  instant.  To 
give  you  any  reason  for  such  an  election  is  be- 
yond my  power;  have  had  no  discourse  with 
any  of  the  electors  about  it.' "  The  Sheriff  was 
promptly  summoned  before  the  Council  to  an- 
swer for  this  vain  babbling  and  frivolous  and 
profane  misconduct.  He  "  disavowed  any  in- 
tention of  wrong-doing,  declaring  that  he  had 
sent  the  blank  sheet  of  paper  as  a  joke." 

This  is  the  first  joke  on  record  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. It  is  interesting  as  a  finely  preserved 
specimen  of  a  joke  of  the  vintage  of  1699,  and 
no  less  interesting  is  the  record  which  shows  in 
what  earnest  and  severe  temper  the  Council  of 
that  day  gazed  upon  the  pioneer  joker  of  the 
province  of  Pennsylvania,  the  forerunner  of 
Charles  G.  Leland,  Charles  Heber  Clark,  Fran- 
cis Wells,  and  other  jesters  of  a  lighter  and 


y£t.  54.]  A   BUD  OF  PROMISE.  287 

brighter  era,  when  a  man  could  perform  a 
single-hand  joke  without  being  arrested  and 
dragged  before  the  Council  for  it.  This  Penn- 
sylvania joke  was  preceded  in  Virginia  by  the 
first  touch  of  "  American  humor"  about  eighty- 
one  years,*  thus  showing  that  with  all  the  won- 
derful advantages  of  the  virgin  soil  and  mar- 
vellous climate  of  the  new  world,  it  required 
nearly  a  century  for  a  germ  of  humor  to  develop 
and  grow  to  the  full  fruition  of  a  strong  and 
fearless  joke,  which  spread  its  bright  wings  to 
catch  the  morning  breeze,  and  soared  into  the 
broad  empyrean  of  progressive  thought  and 
emancipated  intellect,  a  glad,  free  thing,  with 
Italics  at  one  end  and  a  hyphen  in  the  middle 
to  prop  it  up,  and  translate  its  joyous  song  to 
the  dull  ear  of  the  wise  and  good.f 

*  See  Charles  Dudley  Warner's  "  Life  of  Capt.  John  Smith," 
p.  191. 
f  Copyright  secured. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

THE   SKELETON  IN  THE  WOOD-PILE. 


^PHE  colored   brother  was  now  discovered 
-"•      lurking  in  the  gloomy  recesses  of  the  dark 
and  silent  wood-pile. 

He  was  there  when  Penn  founded  the  Key- 
stone State.  Penn  found  him  here  when  he 
landed  in  Philadelphia,  clanking  fetters  and  all. 
Queen  Elizabeth  had  the  honor  of  extending 
the  commerce  of  England  to  the  slave-pens  of 
the  Gold-Coast,  and  long  before  her  time,  in 
continental  countries,  anything  made  in  the 
image  of  God,  with  a  black  skin,  was  con- 
sidered property.  Slaves  were  held  in  all  the 
American  colonies,  and  if  a  man  did  not  own 
slaves,  it  was  usually  because  he  was  too  poor 
to  buy  them.  In  common  with  all  other  good 
people,  the  ancient  Pennsylvanians  bought  their 
servants  rather  than  hire  them.  When  Wil- 
liam Penn,  in  1685,  wrote  about  training  up 
two  men  and  a  boy  in  the  art  of  gardening,  he 


JEt.  55.]  "  CUSSED  BE   CANAAN."  289 

says,  "  It  were  better  they  were  blacks,  for 
then  a  man  has  them  while  they  live."  Four- 
teen years  before  that  time  George  Fox  had 
advised  the  Friends  of  Barbadoes,  in  regard  to 
their  slaves,  that  "  after  certain  years  of  servi- 
tude they  should  make  them  free,"  but  it  does 
not  appear  that  any  of  the  slave-owning  Friends 
unloaded  because  George  Fox  said  so. 

The  colored  man  remained  in  the  seclusion 
of  the  fuel  department  until  1688,  only  six  years 
after  the  founding  of  Pennsylvania,  when,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  some  of  the  German 
Friends,  at  their  meeting  in  Germantown, 
spoke  their  minds  freely  on  the  subject  of 
human  slavery,  and  made  the  first  protest 
against  it  in  America.  The  meeting  itself  as  a 
body,  however,  dodged  the  issue,  and  "judged 
it  not  to  be  so  proper  for  this  meeting  to  give  a 
positive  judgment  in  the  case."  But  the  per- 
sonal protest  of  Daniel  Pastorius  and  his 
friends,  though  not  adopted  by  the  Society, 
made  itself  felt,  and  eight  years  later  the  Yearly 
Meeting  again  took  up  the  irrepressible  subject 
very  gingerly,  and  advised  that  "  Friends  be 
careful  not  to  encourage  the  bringing  in  of  any 
more  negroes,  and  that  such  as  have  them  be 


290  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1700 

careful  of  them,  bring  them  to  meetings,  and 
restrain  them  from  loose  living  as  much  as  in 
them  lies,  and  from  rambling  abroad  on  first 
days  or  other  times." 

The  Germantown  leaven  was  working,  al- 
though not  until  eighty  years  later  did  the 
Society  of  Friends  embody  in  its  discipline  an 
outspoken  prohibition  of  slavery,  and  nearly 
two  centuries  had  passed  away  when  the 
sword,  with  bloody  judgment,  made  into  a 
righteous  and  irrevocable  decree  the  brave 
protest  so  bravely  spoken  by  the  Friends  of 
Germantown.  The  Quaker  meeting-house  was 
the  cradle  of  abolitionism  and  emancipation. 

In  the  spring  of  1700,  Penn  made  an  effort  to 
"  improve  the  condition  of  the  negro  by  legal 
enactments."  He  introduced  in  the  Council  a 
bill  to  "  regulate  the  morals  and  marriages  of 
negroes."  This  bill  was  readily  passed  by  the 
Council,  the  members  of  that  body  being  all 
members  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  But  the 
Assembly  promptly  killed  the  bill  when  it  came 
into  their  hands,  and  under  the  sanction  of  this 
body  the  slaves  went  on  marrying  as  numer- 
ously and  carelessly  as  they  pleased,  and  pur- 
sued the  unguarded  ways  of  their  earthly  pil- 


j£t.  56.]  THE  POPULAR  VOICE.  2()1 

grimage  with  no  check  upon  their  baggage  or 
their  conduct. 

The  Founder  now  turned  from  the  Assembly 
to  his  own  Society,  and  at  the  next  monthly 
meeting  laid  this  subject  before  it,  and  be- 
sought the  Friends  to  "  be  very  careful  in  dis- 
charging a  good  conscience  toward  the  Indians 
and  negroes  in  all  respects."  The  meeting  ap- 
pointed a  meeting  for  the  negroes,  "  to  be  kept 
once  a  month."  The  Friends  thus  early  sought 
to  promote  the  spiritual  welfare  of  their  slaves. 
But  they  still  held  them  as  slaves,  and  emanci- 
pation as  a  means  of  grace  was  not  resorted  to 
until  many  years  afterward.  William  Penn,  it 
is  true,  gave  all  his  slaves  their  freedom  in  his 
will,  although  the  will  appears  to  have  been 
carried  out  as  wills  usually  are — as  the  heirs 
and  executor  wish  it,  and  not  as  the  testator 
intended.  A  letter  from  James  Logan  to 
Hannah  Penn,  quoted  by  Janney,  says :  "  The 
proprietor,  in  a  will  left  with  me,  at  his  depart- 
ure hence,  gave  all  his  negroes  their  freedom, 
but  this  is  entirely  private ;  however,  there  are 
very  few  left.  Sam  died  soon  after  your  de- 
parture hence,  and  his  brother  James  very 
lately.  Chevalier,  by  a  written  order  from  his 


292  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1700. 

master,  had  his  liberty  several  years  ago,  so 
that  there  are  none  left  but  Sue,  whom  Letitia 
claims,  or  did  claim,  as  given  to  her  when 
she  went  to  England,  but  how  rightfully  I 
know  not.  These  things  you  can  best  dis- 
cuss. There  are  besides  two  old  negroes  quite 
worn,  that  remained  of  three  which  I  received 
eighteen  years  ago  of  E.  Gibbs's  estate  of 
New  Castle  Co." 

It  appears  not  to  have  been  a  very  sweeping 
emancipation,  after  all.  Penn  meant  well,  but 
these  things  can  be  and  are  done  much  better 
by  the  living  than  by  the  heirs  of  a  dead  mas- 
ter. To  a  lame  man,  it  would  appear  from  this 
letter  that  of  the  slaves  freed  by  this  will,  Sam 
died  before  his  master  got  to  England ;  James 
died  soon  after;  Chevalier  was  free  because 
Penn  manumitted  him  in  time  and  by  his  own 
hand;  Letitia,  who  was  not  in  the  emanci- 
pation business,  laid  her  gentle  hands  upon  Sue, 
will  or  no  will ;  and  there  were  left,  to  enjoy 
their  freedom  under  the  Governor's  will,  two 
decrepit  old  darkies,  who  had  worked  them- 
selves clear  out  as  slaves,  were  not  now  worth 
their  keep,  and  probably  at  this  time  were  not 


JEt.  56.]  A    GROWING  CHILD.  293 

able  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Such  was  old- 
fashioned  emancipation. 

William  Penn,  however,  was  ever  a  kind  and 
humane  master,  and  his  intentions  were  just 
and  noble,  But  this  is  one  of  the  instances 
where  "  his  confidence  in  persons  less  virtuous 
than  himself"  disarranged  his  plans  and  vetoed 
his  wishes.  While  he  owned  slaves,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  morality  of  his  time  ap- 
proved of  slavery,  and  he  was  a  better  master 
to  his  slaves  than  some  of  our  neighbors  are  to 
their  employes. 

An  absence  of  sixteen  years  had  done  its  cer- 
tain work  in  weaning  the  rugged  and  healthy 
infant  province  Penn  had  planted  in  the  wilder- 
ness away  from  its  loving  Founder.  Sixteen 
years ;  and  such  years  they  had  been,  pregnant 
with  great  events,  restless  with  the  birth  and 
growth  of  ideas.  Twice  in  that  time  Penn  had 
seen  the  greatest  throne  in  the  world  made 
vacant,  once  by  the  mighty  hand  of  death,  and 
once  by  the  hand  of  the  people  scarcely  less 
mighty.  Persecution,  cruelty,  and  bloodshed, 
in  the  sacred  name  of  religion,  had  raged  over 
the  kingdom,  desolating  homes,  filling  the  pri- 


2Q4  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1700. 

sons,  and  drenching  the  block  with  the  bravest 
and  purest  blood  of  England.  Sidney  and 
Monmouth  died  under  the  axe;  Jeffreys  had 
run  the  limit  of  his  evil  and  cruel  career; 
James,  torn  from  his  throne,  had  met  defeat  in 
England  and  disgraceful  rout  in  Ireland  ;  Penn 
from  the  estate  of  a  prince  had  fallen  to  the 
obscurity  of  a  fugitive,  death  had  entered  his 
household  and  taken  away  the  best  and  dear- 
est ;  war  with  France  broke  out,  and  closed 
with  honor  to  the  English  arms ;  the  dissenters 
of  England  had  at  last  worn  out  persecution  by 
patience  and  matchless  courage  and  glorious 
faith  in  the  righteousness  of  their  cause,  until 
the  meeting-house  and  conventicle  were  as  safe 
as  the  church,  and  no  man's  prayers  could  shut 
him  in  a  dungeon ;  and  with  all  these  wonder- 
ful changes  in  the  world  in  which  he  lived 
these  sixteen  years,  could  Penn  imagine  that 
the  New  World  was  standing  still?  Did  he 
suppose  he  would  find  his  "  model  state"  just 
where  he  left  it  ?  Could  he  not  understand  the 
murmur  of  discontent  already  flowing  from 
colony  to  colony,  and  spreading  a  contagion  of 
restlessness  through  the  provinces?  Sixteen 
years?  In  those  stirring  days  that  was  time 


JEt.  56.]     GROWN  OUT  OF  RECOGNITION. 

enough  to  build  a  new  state  on  the  ashes  "of  an 
old. 

Penn  had  seen  this  in  England :  he  was  a 
child  when  Cromwell  builded  the  Common- 
wealth on  the  ruins  of  the  throne,  and  a  boy 
when  the  King  came  back  to  his  own  and  the 
throne  was  established  on  the  wreck  of  the 
Commonwealth ;  he  was  a  man  of  broad  ex- 
perience, keen  insight,  and  wide  political  influ- 
ence when  William  stepped  on  the  neck  of 
James  to  ascend  the  throne.  And  yet  with  all 
these  instructive  scenes  rolling  before  him  on 
the  panorama  of  events,  he  stayed  away  from 
his  province  in  the  New  World  and  thought  he 
could  govern  it.  Sixteen  years !  The  Blue 
Anchor  Tavern  that  he  saw  finished  on  Dock 
Street  had  been  hidden  by  the  grander  houses 
of  the  city  he  planned ;  for  now  more  than  "  a 
thousand  finisht  houses"  his  capital  boasted. 
Immigrants  fleeing  from  the  lash  of  persecution 
had  crowded  into  his  province  and  made  it 
prosperous.  In  the  wake  of  its  prosperity 
came  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  the  tide.  Men 
came  to  Pennsylvania  who  cared  naught  for 
Penn,  and  less  for  his  religion ;  men  came  who 
hid  never  or  scarcely  heard  of  William  Penn ; 


296  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1700. 

men  came  who  knew  him  only  to  dislike  him ; 
men  came  who  hated  his  ideal  of  the  perfect 
state ;  good  men,  bad  men,  weak  men,  slavers, 
smugglers,  pirates,  men  of  all  conditions  came 
to  Pennsylvania,  with  their  own  political  ideas. 
When  Penn  returned  to  his  province  after  his 
absence  of  sixteen  years,  he  did  not  find  the 
state  he  left.  He  found  a  people  who  knew  not 
Penn,  and  who  regarded  a  governor  or  pro- 
prietor as  a  figure-head  that  should  be  allowed 
only  the  least  possible  amount  of  power. 

The  seeds  of  democracy  Penn  had  sowed  in 
the  wilderness  *  had  taken  root  and  flourished 
with  the  unexpected  luxuriance  of  a  Canada 
thistle  or  the  dog-fennel  of  the  prairies.  The 
province  had  grown  democratic  even  more 
rapidly  than  Penn  had  anticipated  or  wished. 
While  he  had  been  sixteen  years  in  England, 
and  most  of  that  time  a  constant  attendant  upon 
the  King,  a  favorite  with  royalty  and  a  power 
in  the  -court,  the  colonists  had  been  receiving  a 
very  different  education  in  America,  and  all 


*  The  reader  will  kindly  excuse  me  for  making  no  reference 
in  this  connection  to  Cadmus  and  his  little  experiment  in  pro- 
ductive dentistry.  I  thought  of  it,  but  grandly  refrained  from 
using  it. 


JEt.  56.]  ARMED  NEUTRALITY.  2gj 

their  dealings  with  the  Crown  only  served  to 
intensify  their  dislike  for  it. 

The  Assembly  met  Penn  this  year  in  an  atti- 
tude of  "  armed  neutrality"  if  not  open  hostility.* 
It  was  called  to  meet  at  New  Castle  as  a  small 
libation  of  taffy  for  the  lower  counties,  and 
Penn  briefly  recommended  a  revisal  of  the  laws, 
the  settling  of  property,  and  a  supply  for  the 
support  of  the  government,  closing  by  recom- 
mending to  the  House  amity  and  concord 
among  its  members.  The  Assembly  did  not 
waste  any  time  on  the  promotion  of  amity  and 
concord ;  no  committee  was  appointed  on  that 
subject.  The  only  matter  it  appeared  to  har- 
monize upon  in  perfect  unity  was  the  revision 
of  the  laws.  They  were  ready,  willing,  and 
anxious  to  annul  the  old  and  frame  a  new  con- 
stitution right  away ;  but  Penn  was  less  anx- 
ious for  this  heroic  method  of  mending  the  old 
constitution,  and  but  little  progress  was  made 
in  that  direction  at  this  session.  Then  the  rep- 
resentatives from  the  territories  and  the  prov- 
ince began  wrangling  over  the  quota  of  repre- 
sentation. The  members  from  the  territories 

*  The  classic  reader  is  requested  to  insert  here  something 
about  the  hand  of  steel  in  the  silken  glove. 


298  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1700. 

went  in  for  minority  representation.  They 
claimed  that  as  the  territories  had  the  smallest 
population,  they  should  therefore  have  the 
largest  representation,  in  order  to  strike  a  gen- 
eral average.  They  threatened  to  secede  at 
once  if  ever  the  province  organized  any  more 
counties,  "and  thereby  more  representatives 
were  added,  so  that  the  number  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  in  legislation  in  the 
province  should  exceed  those  of  the  territories." 
Finally  this  was  compromised  by  Penn,  who 
proposed  "  that  in  all  matters  and  things  what- 
soever wherein  the  territories  were  or  should 
be  particularly  concerned,  in  interest  or  privi- 
lege, distinct  from  the  province,  then,  and  in 
that  case,  no  act,  law,  or  ordinance,  in  any  wise, 
should  pass  in  any  Assembly  in  this  province, 
unless  two  parts  in  three  of  the  members  of  the 
said  territories,  and  the  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  province,  should  concur  therein." 
This  quieted  the  territory  men  for  the  time,  but 
they  promised  to  bring  up  the  subject  of  the 
union  at  the  next  session,  and  at  every  succeed- 
ing session,  in  fact. 

Then  there  was  the  supply  for  the  support  of 
the  Government ;  ^2,000  were  to  be  raised,  and 


JEt.  56.]  A    MODEST  MINORITY.  299 

in  levying  the  tax,  the  members  for  the  province 
intimated  that  if  the  territories  insisted  on  an 
equal  representation  and  voice  and  vote  in  all 
matters  pertaining-  to  the  state,  they  should  also 
raise  half  of  the  supply.  But  the  territory 
members  declined  the  flattering  proposition. 
They  explained  that  they  wanted  to  strike  a  fair 
average  in  this  matter,  and  would  agree  to  a 
just  and  righteous  compromise.  They  would 
agree  to  do  all  the  talking  and  most  of  the  vot- 
ing, and  let  the  members  for  the  province  raise 
all  the  money.  How  did  that  strike  them  ?  It 
did  not  seem  to  strike  the  provincial  representa- 
tives as  altogether  the  proper  caper,  and  in  turn 
they  submitted  four  propositions,  each  looking 
to  an  equal  tax  on  property  both  in  the  provinces 
and  territories ;  but  the  territories  voted  them 
down,  being  in  a  minority.  Lack  of  space  for- 
bids my  explaining  how  this  was  done.  The 
representatives  of  the  territories  had  only  one 
rule  in  voting  on  any  bill  or  motion.  When  the 
province  voted  "yea"  the  territories  voted 
"nay,"  and  when  the  province  voted  against 
any  measure  the  members  for  the  territories 
worried  that  measure  through,  if  they  had  to  sit 
up  all  night.  The  members  for  the  territories 


300  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1700. 

seem  to  have  been  very  pleasant,  peaceably  dis- 
posed men.* 

Once  more  the  wisdom  and  long-suffering 
patience  of  the  Governor  cast  the  crude  petro- 
leum of  compromise  upon  the  troubled  winds  of 
legislative  debate,  with  the  proposition  that  the 
province  should  raise  ;£i,575,  and  the  territories 
.£425.  This  looked  fair  to  the  territories,  and 
the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  went  home,  having 
for  the  first  time  since  the  founding  of  the  prov- 
ince voted  a  supply  to  the  only  Governor  who, 
up  to  that  time,  deserved  one  at  their  hands. 

A  terrible  riot  broke  out  in  East  Jersey  about 
the  time  the  legislature  adjourned.  Men  stood 
out  in  the  streets  and  called  one  another  all  sorts 
of  names;  casual  bricks  —  whole  and  bats — 
strewed  the  highways  thick  as  the  leaves  that 
strew  autumnal  brooks  in  Vallambrosa,f  only 
somewhat  harder  and  rather  larger;  windows 
were  broken,  grass  was  pulled  up  by  the  roots,  and 
tumultuous  horror  brooded  over  the  pleasant 
valleys  of  Appeljacque, — all  because  an  insolent 
criminal  on  trial  asked  an  East  Jersey  magis- 
trate some  questions  that  his  honor  couldn't 

/     *  After  they  were  buried.  \  f  Original. 


JEt.  56.]         QUELLED  BY  A   PAMPHLET.  3OI 

answer.  The  august  courts  of  this  country 
had  not  at  that  time  attained  the  Guiteau  state 
of  passive  submission. 

When  Penn  heard  of  the  riot,  he  immediately 
pulled  on  his  big  boots,  and  calling  "  twelve  of 
the  most  respectable  Friends  about  him,"  girded 
on  his  two-handed  pamphlet  with  the  terrible 
name,  and  rode  for  the  scene  of  conflict.  But 
long,  long  before  he  got  there,  the  insurgents 
heard  he  was  coming  and  gat  them  unto  their 
homes  in  greate  terrour,  and  did  there  abide  in 
all  feare  and  submissfulnesse. 

Penn  had  now  some  leisure  to  attend  to  the 
noble  red  men.  As  usual,  the  guileless  savages 
had  some  land  to  sell,  and  they  knew  Penn  was 
the  best  man  in  the  world  to  buy  land.  Before 
he  sailed  for  England,  in  1684,  Penn  bought  "all 
that  tract  of  land  lying  on  both  sides  of  the 
river  Susquehanna  and  the  lakes  adjacent,  in  or 
near  the  province  of  Pennsylvania/'  from  the 
Iroquois  Indians,  for  ;£ioo.  Now  the  Susque- 
hanna Indians  came  into  court,  and  said  there 
was  a  cloud  on  Penn's  title ;  that  the  Iroquois 
could  not  make  him  a  deed  of  that  land,  because 
they  had  only  acquired  it  temporarily,  and  in 
the  most  unquakerlike  way,  by  pounding  the 


3O2  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1700. 

ground  with  the  Susquehannas,  who  were  the 
rightful  owners,  tomahawking  a  divers  many 
of  them,  and  driving  them  away  from  their  own 
land,  which  they  had  themselves,  with  great 
pains  and  much  scalping,  acquired  in  a  like 
manner  from  its  former  owners, — although  they 
didn't  say  anything  about  that, — and  now,  they 
didn't  want  to  make  a  fuss  about  it,  but  if 
William  Penn  really  wanted  that  land,  they 
would  sell  it  to  him  cheap  for  cash,  or  on 
long  time,  say  fifteen  minutes,)  with  approved 
security. 

So  Penn,  believing  the  Indians,  and  knowing 
not  that  they  were  taught  to  lie  before  they 
were  weaned,  bought  this  same  land  over  again, 
this  time  from  the  Susquehannas. 

The  Susquehannas  got  their  money  and  goods 
for  the  land,  and  then  went  back  to  the  forest 
primeval,  and  around  the  blazing  camp-fire, 
under  the  whispering  hemlocks,  in  the  long 
shadows  of  the  stately  pines,  and  amid  the 
small  but  numerous  inhabitants  of  their  humble 
tepees,  they  told  what  a  good  thing  they  had 
made  out  of  those  old  Iroqirois  timber-claims  on 
the  Susquehanna.  The  other  Indians,  being  as- 
sured that  in  the  matter  of  a  land-deal  William 


JEt.  56.]          EARLY  POST-SUTLERSHIPS.  303 

Penn  was  but  as  a  sucker,  said,  "  Go  to ;  let  us 
arise  and  sell  Brother  Onas  these  Iroquois  lands 
ourselves." 

So  Connoodaghoh,  King  of  the  Conestogas, 
and  a  lot  of  other  kings,  his  most  gracious 
majesty  King  of  the  Shawnees,  "the  restless 
nation  of  wanderers,"  the  lynx-eyed  chief  of 
the  Ganawese,*  and  a  king  of  the  Onondagas, 
came  down  to  Philadelphia  in  April,  1701,  and 
told  William  Penn  that  he  might  be  and  was  the 
only  genuine  Onas  of  Philadelphia,  but  they 
were  the  Onas  of  that  Iroquois  reservation,  and 
he  must  not  neglect  to  recollect  it.  Penn  at 
once  opened  up  another  line  of  presents,  and 
the  tramps  of  the  forest  graciously  confirmed 
the  two  purchases  he  had  already  made  of  this 
same  land.  It  may  be  that  Penn  kept  on  buy- 
ing this  Iroquois  land  of  new  Indians  so  long  as 
he  remained  in  America,  but  there  is  no  record 
of  any  further  sales. 

In  order  that  the  Indians  might  be  protected 
from  swindling  traders,  it  was  decided  at  this 
last  treaty  that  only  Penn  himself  and  his  im- 
mediate successors  should  have  authority  to 

*  Brother  of  the  oxide  of  manganese. 


304  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1701. 

license  Indian  traders.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  the  monopoly  in  post-sutlerships. 

It  was  also  decided  by  the  Governor  and  his 
Council  "  that  no  rum  should  be  sold  to  any 
Indians  but  their  chiefs,  and  in  such  quantities 
as  the  Governor  and  Council  shall  think  fit,  to 
be  disposed  of  by  the  chiefs  to  the  Indians  about 
them  as  they  shall  see  cause."  This  made  thin 
gleaning  for  the  other  Indians,  and  the  haughty 
chieftain  gradually  fell  into  the  royal  habit  of 
doing  all  the  drinking  for  his  tribe.  It  kept  his 
most  gracious  majesty  busy,  but  he  was  fond  of 
employment,  and  loved  to  toil  at  the  earthen 
jug,  while  his  gentle  wife  or  two  chewed  the 
bear-skins  soft  and  pliable,  or  idly  hoed  the 
rustling  maize,  or  with  resounding  blows  and 
muffled  grunts  laid  in  the  winter  wood. 

During  this  summer,  a  letter  from  the  King 
was  laid  before  the  Assembly,  demanding  a  con- 
tribution of  £350  for  the  construction  and  main- 
tenance of  forts  in  New  York.  The  Assembly 
was  greatly  distressed.  It  had  a  hard  time  all 
round.  Whenever  William  Penn  wanted  a  sup- 
ply or  asked  for  his  quit-rents,  they  reminded 
each  other  that  although  the  Governor  was  a 
Quaker,  all  the  colonists  were  not,  and  it  didn't 


jEt.  57.]  CONVENIENT  PIETY.  305 

make  any  difference  to  them  whether  he  got 
any  supplies  or  not.  But  when  the  King-  called 
upon  them  for  a  war  appropriation,  they  sud- 
denly remembered  that  their  constituents,  for 
the  greater  part,  were  Quakers,  and  their 
peculiar  views  must  be  regarded  with  all  due 
respect  by  the  Assembly.  After  mature  delib- 
eration, therefore,  the  Assembly  declined  to 
vote  the  supply  required  by  the  King,  on  the 
remarkable  grounds  of  the  tax  recently  levied 
for  the  support  of  the  Government,  "  and  the 
quit-rents  due  "!  Those  blessed  quit-rents  !  The 
casual  observer  would  be  apt  to  remark  that 
they  were  due,  as  not  a  shilling  of  them  had 
been  paid  in  eighteen  years.  And  then  to 
strengthen  their  reasons  with  the  most  glaring 
incongruities  that  could  be  suggested,  the  As- 
sembly— Quakers,  Baptists,  Methodists,  peace- 
makers, fighters,  and  all — begged  the  Governor 
to  assure  the  King  that  they  were  ready  to  com- 
ply with  his  demands  "  as  far  as  their  religious 
persuasions  would  permit." 

This  grows  better  and  better,  when  we  re- 
member this  is  the  same  devout  body  that  curtly 
refused  to  pass  a  bill  regulating  Christian  and 
decent  marriages  among  the  negroes.  And 


306  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1701. 

finally  the  territories  came  in  with  the  crowning 
reason,  declaring  they  were  in  a  most  defence- 
less condition  themselves,  without  arms,  am- 
munition, militia,  or  officers,  and  asked  to  be 
excused  from  "  building  forts  in  New  York 
while  they  were  unable  to  build  them  for  their 
own  home  defence." 

The  Assembly  was  dismissed  after  this  mag- 
nificent jumble.  Certainly  it  had  earned  the 
right  to  go  home  and  place  its  several  heads  in 
brine.  It  had  distinctly  stated  that  it  could  not 
vote  a  war  supply  to  build  forts  in  New  York 
because — 

It  had  just  voted  all  the  supply  necessary  for 
the  government  expenses ; 

Eighteen  years  of  quit-rents,  which  they 
never  had  paid  and  were  never  going  to  pay, 
were  due ; 

They  had  religious  scruples  against  building 
forts;  and 

They  were  going  to  build  some  for  themselves 
as  soon  as  they  were  able. 

When  the  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  As- 
sembly of  Pennsylvania  sat  down  and  harnessed 
its  massive  intellect  to  the  mental  task  of  evolv- 
ing a  few  consecutive  reasons  why  it  shouldn't 


JEt.  57.]  SUNDRY  AND  DIVERSE  REASONS.        307 

spend  any  more  money  than  it  had  to,  the  result 
was  an  intellectual  three-decker  with  an  iron 
ram  and  an  Ericsson  turret,  that  made  the  effete 
monarchies  of  Europe  tremble  on  their  crum- 
bling thrones,  while  the  prophetic  aureole 
about  the  dome  of  Independence  Hall  glowed 
like  an  Alpine  sunset  on  the  Wissahickon. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


A  S  he  had  now  been  in  the  province  nearly 
•**•  two  years,  it  was  about  time  for  the  Gov- 
ernor to  go  back  to  England.  He  seemed  to 
like  Pennsylvania  more  the  less  he  saw  of  it, 
and  wasted  very  little  of  his  precious  time  in 
his  "  model  state."  Various  reasons  urged  his 
return  to  England  at  this  time.  There  was  in 
the  mother-country  a  strong  party  in  favor  of 
extinguishing  the  proprietary  governments,  and 
vesting  the  rule  of  the  colonies  in  the  Crown, 
and  a  bill  to  that  effect  had  already  been  intro- 
duced in  the  House  of  Lords.  It  was  thought 
best  by  the  leading  men  of  the  colony  that 
Penn  should  at  once  set  sail  for  England. 
They  appeared  anxious  to  have  him  go,  pos- 
sibly realizing  the  fact  that  they  had  their  own 
way  more  fully  when  the  Governor  was  three 
months  out  of  reach — a  view  of  the  case  that 
seems  to  have  missed  the  Governor  entirely. 


Ml.  57.]  THE   WOMAN  DID  IT.  309 

In  addition  to  these  political  reasons,  there 
were  others  equally  weighty.  Mrs.  Penn  and 
Miss  Penn  were  both  averse  to  remaining  in 
America.  They  had  enjoyed  the  novelty  of  a 
visit  in  the  new  country,  and  did  not  appear  to 
care  for  any  more  of  it,  failing  to  enter  into  the 
Governor's  enthusiasm  for  taming  the  Indians 
and  building  a  model  state,  and  making  the 
wilderness  to  blossom  as  the  rose.  Penn  him- 
self writes,  at  this  time :  "  I  cannot  prevail  on 
my  wife  to  stay,  and  still  less  with  Tishe 
[Letitia].  I  know  not  what  to  do.  Samuel 
Carpenter  seems  to  excuse  her  in  it,  but  to  all 
that  speak  of  it,  say  I  shall  have  no  need  to 
stay  in  England,  and  a  great  interest  to  re- 
turn." And  when  a  man's  wife  and  daughter 
both  put  down  their  feet  and  say  they  will  not 
stay  in  this  horrid  country  another  minute, 
and  they  will  go  back  to  England  to-morrow  if 
they  have  to  walk  every  blessed  step  of  the 
way,  and,  to  make  it  worse,  Samuel  Carpenter, 
who  might  have  been  in  better  business,  comes 
along  and  aids,  abets,  and  encourages  the  wo- 
men in  their  distracting  opposition  to  the  Gov- 
ernor's wishes, — it  is  easy  to  see  the  Governor 
must  surrender,  and  place  three  months  of 


310  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1701. 

ocean  between  him  and  the  province  that  con- 
stantly required  his  presence.  Or  rather,  he 
required  the  presence  of  the  province,  if  he 
wanted  to  hold  it  and  mould  it  to  his  own  will. 
The  province  got  along  in  its  own  way  while 
the  Governor  was  in  London,  but  it  wasn't 
Penn's  way  at  all.  Penn's  own  wishes  would 
have  held  him  in  America,  for  he  writes,  "  My 
inclinations  run  strongly  to  a  country  and  pro- 
prietary life."  And  then  he  packed  up  and 
went  straight  to  London.  But  he  assured  the 
Assembly  in  his  opening  speech  that  "  no  un- 
kindness  or  disappointment  shall  ever  alter  my 
love  for  the  country,  and  resolution  to  return 
and  settle  my  family  and  posterity  in  it." 

Before  he  sailed,  the  new  Assembly  was  con- 
vened, and  the  Governor  told  them  to  review 
their  laws,  enact  such  new  ones  as  they  thought 
best,  and  consider  the  King's  request  for  the 
New  York  forts  appropriation,  referred  from 
the  last  Assembly.  In  reply  to  which  the  As- 
sembly promptly  refused  to  build  one  solitary 
embrasure,  not  a  lunette,  not  even  a  rifle-pit ;  it 
would  not  vote  one  shilling  for  a  fort. 

But  it  would  and  did  trouble  the  Governor 
with  a  long  address  of  twenty-one  articles,  in 


JEt.  57.]  STAND  AND  DELIVER.  311 

which  the  Assembly  and  citizens  asked  for  some 
things  the  proprietary  was  willing  to  grant, 
some  that  he  granted  unwillingly,  and  some  that 
he  wouldn't  listen  to.  Among  other  things,  the 
modest  freemen  merely  asked  that  the  Gov- 
ernor should  fix  the  price  of  all  his  unsold  land 
at  the  extravagant  rate  of  "  one  bushel  of  wheat 
in  the  hundred."  The  Assembly  must  have  had 
this  request  stored  away  in  the  ice-house  all 
summer.  When  any  other  man  held  his  land  a 
few  years  he  was  entitled  to  sell  it  at  the 
"  raise,"  but  the  price  of  the  Governor's  land 
was  to  be  immutably  fixed.  Even  at  this  dis- 
tance, this  request  still  retains  a  shuddering 
sensation  of  frostiness,  when  we  remember  that 
Penn  bought  all  his  land  of  King  Charles,  and 
then  of  numerous  Indians  in  rapid  succession. 

Then  the  colonists  had  one  more  little  favor 
to  ask.  It  wasn't  much,  and  they  disliked  to 
bother  him  about  such  a  trifle,  but  would  the 
Governor  be  good  enough  to  lay  out  all  his 
bay-marshes  and  swamp-lands  as  common 
lands  ?  The  Governor's  hair  began  to  stand  on 
end. 

Oh  yes,  and  one  thing  more :  they  wanted 
the  common  use  of  some  vacant  land  in  the  city 


312  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1701. 

of  Philadelphia,  and  the  free  use  of  the  river- 
bank  at  the  ends  of  the  streets  on  the  Delaware 
and  Schuylkill ;  and,  by  the  way,  they  wanted 
all  of  his  islands  near  the  city  to  be  reserved 
free  to  them  for  their  supplies  of  winter  fodder. 
Penn  gave  them  the  vacant  lots  and  the  river- 
fronts,  but  he  held  on  to  the  bay-marshes  and 
the  islands. 

Was  there  any  other  business  before  the 
House  ?  They  could  not  think  of  anything  else 
of  importance.  Oh,  the  appropriation  for  his 
journey  to  England  ?  Well,  that  was  all  right ; 
they  weren't  going  to  make  any.  If  he  wanted 
to  go  to  England,  he  was  at  liberty  to  go.  It 
was  the  privilege  of  any  citizen.  But  he  could 
pay  his  own  way  or  hoof  it,  the  Assembly  didn't 
very  much  care  which.  Or,  he  might  stay  in 
Pennsylvania.  It  was  a  good  country,  and 
they  were  going  to  stay  themselves.  They 
were  glad  enough  to  get  away  from  England, 
and  they  had  no  desire  to  go  back  to  a  country 
where  they  spelled  apple  with  an  "  h."  If  he 
wanted  money,  he  could  sell  land. 

And  that  is  just  what  he  had  to  do.  He  had 
five  or  six  hundred  thousand  or  million  acres 
of  land, — he  didn't  know  which  it  was, — and  he 


;Et.  57.]  POLITICAL    STRANGERS.  313 

sold  a  few  counties  to  pay  his  way  back  to 
England.  To  this  sad  state  of  penniless  desti- 
tution was  the  once  wealthy  Governor  and  pro- 
prietor of  Pennsylvania  reduced.  Ah,  how 
few  of  us,  blessed  with  comfortable  homes  and 
a  good  salary  of  $850  a  year,  know  of  the  pen- 
ury and  woe  and  pinching  poverty  and  white- 
faced  want  stalking  like  grim  spectres  through 
the  palaces  of  our  Governors !  Let  us,  while 
we  pity  the  griping  poverty  of  the  starving 
owners  of  whole  reservations  of  land,  learn 
wisely  the  lessons  of  their  misfortunes ;  let  us 
lay  our  several  hands  upon  our  respective 
hearts,  and  solemnly  declare  we  will  never  bite 
off  more  than  we  can  chew.* 

Penn  was  greatly  displeased  with  the  excel- 
lent appetite  this  Assembly  displayed  for  his 
lands,  and  in  a  conference  on  this. subject  he 
told  them  very  plainly  that  "  he  would  never 
permit  an  Assembly  to  meddle  with  his  pro- 
perty, lest  it  should  be  drawn  into  a  prece- 
dent." And  that  was  just  what  the  Assembly 
was  after.  Penn  saw  about  as  little  of  his  own 
province  as  any  man  in  England ;  his  successor 

*  Properly  "  chaw,"  but  the  proof-reader  played  it  mean  on 
the  author. 


314  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1701. 

might  be  an  unscrupulous,  grasping  man,  also 
living  in  London  and  holding  at  exorbitant 
prices  his  inherited  lands  and  privileges,  and 
the  Assembly,  wiser  in  its  day  and  generation 
than  the  Governor,  was  anxious  to  secure  these 
lands  and  privileges  to  the  people  and  immi- 
grants of  future  generations  while  it  could  be 
done.  It  is  true  there  was  an  element  of  calm 
iciness  in  the  Assembly's  demands,  but,  after 
all,  it  was  singing  on  the  right  key. 

Some  time  during  the  session  a  bill  was  intro- 
duced to  confirm  the  revenue  laws  passed  at 
New  Castle,  and,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
every  member  from  the  territories  was  on  his 
feet  in  a  minute,  declaring  that  such  a  bill  in- 
timated that  laws  enacted  in  the  territories  were 
invalid.  They  would  be  recreant,  Sir,  to  their 
principles,  and  false,  Sir,  to  their  constituents, 
Sir,  if,  Sir,  they  remained  supinely,  Sir,  in  their 
seats,  Sir,  when  this  galling  insult,  Sir,  was 
hurled  at  the  grand  old  constituency,  Sir,  it  was 
their  honor  and  privilege,  Sir,  to  represent,  Sir. 
And  then  they  said  they  would  and  did  boldly 
and  fearlessly  fling  back  the  infamous  insinua- 
tion into  the  teeth,  Sir,  of  the  cowardly  insinua- 
tors ;  they  would  beard  this  lion  of  tyrannical 


^Et.  57-]          ANOTHER  NEW  CHARTER.  315 

and  arbitrary  despotism  in  the  bud ;  they  would 
trample  this  gathering  cloud  of  usurpation  un- 
der their  feet,  and  in  the  might  and  majesty  of 
a  downtrodden  people  they  would  hurl  the 
proud  invader  from  his  gory  seat  and  plant  the 
flag  of  freedom  there !  (Loud  cheers  and  cries 
of  "Go  on!"  from  the  galleries,  which  were 
promptly  checked  by  the  Speaker.)  And  with 
this  burst  of  legislative  eloquence  and  grammar 
the  representatives  from  the  territories  put  on 
their  hats,  and  seceded. 

Penn  interposed  in  behalf  of  union  and  har- 
mony, and  after  repeated  conferences  the  terri- 
tory members  agreed  to  come  back  on  condition 
"that  nothing  might  be  carried  over  their  heads 
by  outvoting  them."  You  see,  the  territories 
did  not  want  very  much,  but  what  they  did  want 
they  wanted  like  everything.  At  last,  on  the 
promise  of  the  Governor  that  a  clause  should  be 
inserted  in  the  charter  providing  for  their  sep- 
aration in  three  years,  the  seceders  returned  to 
the  House. 

This  Assembly  adopted  a  new  constitution, 
passed  one  hundred  bills,  and  adjourned  on  the 
28th  of  October.  The  day  following,  Penn  pre- 
sented the  inhabitants  of  Philadelphia  an  act  of 


WILLIAM  PENN.  [1701. 

incorporation  for  the  city,  appointing  Edward 
Shippen  Mayor  and  Thomas  Story  Recorder, 
and  placing  other  friends  approved  by  himself 
in  office,  so  that  the  machine  might  start  off  in 
the  best  shape,  and  leave  as  little  work  as  possi- 
ble for  the  "Committee  of  One  Hundred," 
which  before  long  began  to  exhibit  signs  of  an 
eager  desire  to  stick  its  shovel  into  the  muni- 
cipal sand  and  have  something  to  say  about 
electing  the  city  officers  itself. 

The  Indians  came  in  great  numbers  to  bid 
Penn  good-by,  as  it  had  been  noised  abroad 
he  was  going  to  return  to  England,  and  it  was 
quite  generally  understood  that  liberal  quanti- 
ties of  backsheesh  would  be  dispensed,  after 
Penn's  usual  manner.  The  heart-breaking  sor- 
row of  these  simple-minded  children  of  the 
forest  at  Penn's  departure  has  often  been  justly 
and  feelingly  portrayed.  Penn  had  been  a 
friend  to  the  Indians.*  \He  was  the  first  white 
man  to  treat  them  honestly.  He  was  also  the 
last,  jtrhey  had  sold  him  the  same  piece  of  land 

*  This  remarkable  and  somewhat  startling  statement  has 
been  made  by  other  authorities.  Clarkson,  Janney,  Dixon, 
the  Logan  MSS.,  the  memoirs  of  the  Penn.  Hist.  Soc.,  the 
Proprietary  Papers,  and  various  MSS.  have  asserted  it,  and 
even  Weems  admits  it. 


j£t.  57.]  GOOD-BY   TO   ON  AS. 

many  times,  and  they  now  wept  to  think  they 
might  never  be  able  to  sell  him  that  old  Iroquois 
timber-claim  again.  They  wished  they  had  sold 
it  oftener  while  they  were  at  it.  ) 

In  the  dim  gloaming  of  the  misty  future,  other 
Governors  would  come  who  would  buy  their 
lands  with  bayonets ;  who  would  fence  them  on 
a  reservation  of  sage-brush  and  alkali  ponds, 
and  then  abuse  them  because  they  didn't  kill 
deer  and  buffalo  on  a  reservation  where  a  coy- 
ote would  starve  to  death  in  ten  minutes.  True, 
they  had  never  seen  very  much  of  Penn.  He 
loved  them,  but  he  had  spent  only  four  or  five 
years  in  their  country  in  all  his  life.  Whenever 
they  did  see  him,  however,  they  scooped  him. 
They  struck  him  rich  every  time  they  made  a 
deal  with  him  in  land,  and  they  gloomily 
thought  of  the  day  when  another  Governor 
should  arise,  and  Edward  Marshall  would  walk 
clear  around  the  whole  State  of  Pennsylvania 
in  a  day  and  a  half.  Their  eyes  were  dim  when 
for  the  last  time  in  this  world  they  looked  upon 
the  noble  Quaker,  and  when  they  said  good- 
y,*  and  turned  to  their  humble  lodges  in  the 

*  They  didn't  say  "  good-by"  exactly.  They  said  "  Won- 
nikiquinochisackwissahiconkessett  Connekhocheaque,"  which 
means  the  same  thing.  J 


318  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1701. 

wilderness,  sorrow  gat  hold  upon  them  with 
the  heart-breaking  grip  of  a  tight  boot  in 
church. 

Penn's  last  official  acts  in  Philadelphia  were 
to  appoint  James  Logan  his  agent  and  An- 
drew Hamilton  Deputy  Governor,  and  then, 
on  the  soth  of  October,  his  delighted  family 
hurried  on  board.  ( The  Governor  sorrow- 
fully said  good-by  to  his  friends  and  quit- 
rents.  )  With  a  fair  wind  and  a  good  tide  the 
ship  dropped  down  the  river ;  the  faces  on  the 
wharf  grew  indistinct  and  blurred  ^  the  "thou- 
sand finisht  houses"  of  Philadelphia  blended 
into  the  autumnal  foliage  of  the  surrounding 
forests,  and  the  hazy  atmosphere  of  October 
fell  like  a  veil  over  the  bright  hopes  and  fair 
dreams  of  human  liberty  that  had  been  laid  in 
the  grand  foundations  of  the  mighty  state  yet 
to  be  builded  thereon  in  honor  and  honesty 
by  the  hands  of  a  free  people ;  the  blue  lines 
of  the  hills,  the  winding  river,  and  the  little 
city  melted  into  the  embracing  skies,  and  the 
fair  province  of  Pennsylvania  passed  forever 
from  the  gaze  of  its  Founder.  Neither  in  life 
nor  in  death  was  it  ever  to  receive  him  again. 
He  loved  it  so  much,  and  he  saw  it  so  little,  and 


JEt.  57.]  THE  LAST  GRAB.  319 

in  death  his  body  was  fated  to  lie  thousands  of 
miles  away  from  the  land  that  most  sincerely 
honors  his  memory — the  land  that  hands  his 
great  name  down  to  posterity  in  that  of  the 
state  he  founded  by  "  deeds  of  peace." 

But  his  loving  colonists  had  one  more  grab  at 
him.  When  the  ship  reached  New  Castle, 
David  Lloyd  and  Isaac  Norris,  executors  of 
Thomas  Lloyd,  presented  a  petition,  asking  for 
compensation  for  Thomas  Lloyd's  nine  years'  ser- 
vice as  president  of  the  Council,  that  one  thou- 
sand acres  of  land  be  given  him  for  that  amount 
taken  away  from  him  by  the  Maryland  claim, 
and  that  some  other  lands  Lloyd  had  bought 
should  be  located.  Penn  readily  gave  and 
located  the  land  as  desired,  but  in  regard  to  the 
other  " compensation"  said,  "What  I  have  not 
received  I  cannot  pay.  I  am,  above  all  the 
money  for  lands  I  have  sold,  twenty  thousand 
pounds  sterling  out  of  purse  upon  Pennsylvania, 
and  what  has  been  given  me  pays  not  my  com- 
ing and  expense  since  come." 

From  shipboard  the  Governor  wrote  his 
agent,  James  Logan :  "  Use  thy  utmost  endeav- 
ors to  receive  all  that  is  due  me.  Get  in  quit- 
rents,  look  carefully  after  all  fines,  forfeitures, 


320  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1701. 

escheats,  deodands,  and  strays  that  shall  belong 
to  me  as  proprietor.  Get  in  the  taxes  and 
Friends'  subscriptions,  and  use  thy  utmost 
diligence  in  making  remittances  to  me  by  bills 
of  exchange,  tobacco,*  or  other  merchandise. 
.  .  .  Judge  Guest  expects  a  hundred  pounds  a 
year  of  me.  I  would  make  it  fifty.  .  .  .  Let  not 
my  cousin  Durant  want,  but  supply  her  with 
economy."  f 

The  good  ship  Dalmahoy  made  a  quick  pas- 
sage, and  after  weeks  of  the  usual  marine  misery, 
Penn  landed  in  England.  When  he  got  there, 
he  learned  that  the  bill  for  making  all  the 
American  provinces  Crown  colonies  had  been 
dropped,  and  he  didn't  know  just  what  he  came 
to  England  for.  Still,  this  same  legislation 
would  probably  be  attempted  in  a  succeeding 
Parliament,  and  it  was  evident  that  Penn  was 
once  more  going  to  maintain  the  Pennsylvania 
executive  mansion  in  London,  for  another  in- 
definite period. 

James  died  an  exile.     Three  months  before 


*  He  didn't  like  people  to  smoke  it,  but  he  would  sell  it. 

f  Economy  was  a  very  necessary  article  in  every  household. 
Supplied  with  plenty  of  economy,  cousin  Durant  would  be 
happy  as  a  king. 


JEt.  57  ]      YOUNG   WILLIAM  COMES  OVER.  321 

Perm's  return  to  England,  his  royal  son-in-law 
was  gathered  to  his  fathers,  if  not  to  his  father- 
in-law,  and  Anne,  the  daughter  of  James,  reigned 
in  William's  stead.  One  of  the  first  places  we 
hear  of  Penn,  after  he  reached  England,  is  at 
court,  as  usual,  where  he  was  once  more  in 
favor.  Penn  lived  with  his  family  in  Kensing- 
ton, kept  out  of  politics,  wrote  another  volume 
of  maxims  for  the  guidance  of  other  people,  and 
a  few  pamphlets  and  a  preface  or  two,  and  wor- 
ried over  the  news  from  America,  which  con- 
tinued to  be  of  a  most  discouraging  nature. 
The  territories  had  seceded,  Deputy  Governor 
Hamilton  died  in  1703,  a-nd  the  new  Assembly 
quarrelled  with  Edward  Shippen,  who  succeeded 
him ;  and  when  the  Governor  and  Council  pro- 
posed to  confer  with  the  House  as  to  the  time 
for  holding  the  next  session,  the  Assembly 
showed  them  all  about  that  by  simply  and 
promptly  adjourning  to  the  1st  of  May,  with- 
out troubling  the  Governor  and  his  Council  for 
any  opinion  or  voice  in  the  matter.  Year  after 
year  the  Assembly  grew  more  and  more  inde- 
pendent, and  it  never  had  cared  very  much  for 
a  Deputy  Governor  anyhow. 

Young  William  Penn  was  now  sent  out  to 


322  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1702. 

Pennsylvania,  not  indeed  with  any  hope  of  his 
improving  the  province,  but  for  the  purpose  of 
reforming  the  young  man.  His  father  begged 
Logan,  in  touching  terms,  to  look  after  the 
youth.  "  Possess  him ;  go  with  him  to  Penns- 
bury,  contract  and  recommend  his  acquaint- 
ance. No  rambling  to  New  York."  /  Penn 
knew  that  if  ever  the  young  man  got  into  the 
habit  of  going  to  New  York,  all  hope  of  refor- 
mation was  at  an  end.  \"  He  has  wit,"  adds  the 
father,  "  kept  the  top  company,  and  must  be 
handled  with  much  love  and  wisdom.  And  get 
Samuel  Carpenter  " — that  was  the  useful  per- 
son who  "  excused  "*  Mrs.  Penn  in  insisting  on 
returning  to  England — "  Edward  Shippen,  Isaac 
Norris,  Phineas  Pemberton,  Thomas  Masters, 
and  such  persons  to  be  soft,  and  kind,  and  teach- 
ing." "  He  is  sharp  enough  to  get  to  spend." 
"  All  this  keep  to  thyself,"  adds  Penn,  and 
Logan  accordingly,  after  the  usual  manner  of 
treating  private  and  confidential  correspond- 

*  Heaven  only  knows,  however,  what  "excused"  may  or 
may  not  have  meant  in  those  days.  Perhaps  this  wronged 
Samuel  Carpenter  sat  up  nights  to  persuade  Mrs.  Penn  to  re- 
consider her  determination  and  remain  in  America.  "  Ex- 
cused "  may  have  meant  "opposed,  persecuted,  condemned, 
opposed  with  violence,"  or  something  of  that  sort. 


>Et.  58.]  A   BOLD,   BAD  BOY.  323 

ence,  had  the  letter  placed  in  the  archives  of 
the  American  Philosophical  Society,  where  the 
reporters  could  have  access  to  it.  "  There 
now,"  said  Logan,  "  that  letter  is  safe." 

"  Pennsylvania  has  cost  me  dearer  in  my  poor 
child,"  said  Penn,  "than  all  other  considera- 
tions," which,  considering  that  the  poor  child 
learned  all  hi§  deviltry  in  London,  is  rather 
severe  on  Pennsylvania.  And  then,  with  his 
singular  weakness  for  doing,  or  endeavoring  to 
do,  the  most  important  things  at  the  longest 
range,  he  sent  this  son  away  from  home  and  its 
restraining  influences,  away  from  himself,  away 
over  into  a  new  world,  and  among  strangers,  to 
reform  him.  The  young  man  came  over  with 
John  Evans,  the  newly  appointed  Deputy  Gov- 
ernor, a  youth  of  twenty-six  years,  who  was 
recommended  by  Penn  as  a  "  sober  and  sensible 
young  man,"  who  would  be  "  discreet  and  ad- 
visable, especially  by  the  best  of  our  friends." 

But  the  Governor  was  most  dreadfully  taken 
in  on  young  Evans,  and  the  two  young  men 
made  Rome  howl  when  they  had  been  long 
enough  in  the  province  to  get  acquainted  a 
little.  By  this  time,  only  about  one  third  of 
the  population  of  Philadelphia  were  members 


324  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1703. 

of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  these  youths  had 
no  trouble  in  finding  plenty  of  convivial  society. 
They  tarried  long  at  the  wine ;  they  sang  "  In 
the  morning  by  the  bright  light"  on  the  streets, 
with  great  vigor  but  a  little  out  of  tune  ;  they 
bought  the  police ;  and,  secure  by  the  dignity  of 
their  positions,  the  Deputy  Governor  and  the 
son  of  the  proprietor  made  the  morals  of  the 
city  worse  than  any  other  two  men  could  have 
done,  because  their  boon  companions  found  im- 
munity from  arrest  in  the  company  of  the 
Deputy  Governor. 

Young  Penn  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Provincial  Council,  but  as  it  met  in  the  day- 
time, he  was  seldom  able  to  attend ;  a  deputa- 
tion of  "  one  hundred  Indians,  nine  of  whom 
were  kings,"  called  upon  him,  to  pay  their  re- 
spects to  the  son  of  Onas  and  gather  in  a  bale 
of  presents;  but  even  this  cataract  of  royalty 
failed  to  mend  the  young  man's  ways.  In  open 
opposition  to  the  tenets  of  his  sect,  he  joined 
the  war  party  and  organized  a  body  of  those 
fell  destroyers  of  cakes  and  ale  known  as 
militia  in  Philadelphia.  He  sold  Williamstadt,* 

*  Now  Norristown  township,  Montgomery  County,  Pa, 


JEt.  60.]     THE  FREE  FIGHT  AT  STORY1  S.  $2$ 

the  beautiful  manor  of  eight  thousand  acres 
given  him  by  his  indulgent  father,  because 
Logan  could  not  supply  him  with  money  fast 
enough.  He  was  a  prodigal  son  in  every  re- 
spect save  the  last  chapter. 

Finally  this  riotous  conduct  culminated  in  a 
free  fight  one  night  at  Enoch  Story's  tavern. 
Deputy  Governor  Evans,  Sheriff  John  Finney, 
Joseph  Ralph,  and  Thomas  Gray  the  scrivener, 
— a  reporter,  maybe, — and  young  Penn  pounded 
a  watchman  or  two,  but  the  guardians  of  the 
peace  were  re-enforced  by  "the  Mayor,  Re- 
corder, and  one  Alderman ;"  the  lights  were 
put  out,  and  Alderman  Wilcox  pounded  the 
ground  with  Deputy  Governor  Evans,  not 
knowing  who  he  was,  and  when  the  unhappy 
executive  disclosed  his  identity  and  dignity  the 
indignant  Alderman  leaped  upon  him  and 
whipped  him  again  for  lying  to  him.  And  in 
the  mean  time  somebody  else  was  wiping  up 
the  floor  with  young  William  Penn. 

/The  Deputy  Governor  felt  greatly  chagrined 
over  this  affair,  especially  about  the  right  eye 
and  the  end  of  his  nose  ]\  and  young  Penn,  after 
being  presented  by  the  grand  jury,  shortly  after 
returned  to  England.  His  father  would  have 


326  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1704. 

been  less  than  a  man  had  he  not  felt  hurt  at 
what  he  considered  the  harshness  with  which 
his  son  had  been  treated.  "  Bad  Friends'  treat- 
ment of  him,"  said  the  father,  "stumbled  him 
from  the  truth.  I  justify  not  his  folly,  and  still 
less  their  provocation."  Logan  says  the  present- 
ment was  "  an  indignity  put  upon  the  son  of  the 
Founder,  which  is  looked  upon  by  most  mode- 
rate men  as  very  base."  But  then,  it  must  be 
remembered,  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  never 
saw  enough  of  the  Founder  to  get  very  well  ac- 
quainted with  him,  and  the  son  of  some  man 
away  over  in  London  was  a  person  of  very 
little  consequence  to  a  great  many  of  the  colo- 
nists, especially  the  Dutch  and  Swedes. 

Troubles  never  come  single.*  If  they  had 
been  content  to  come  only  in  pairs  or  triplets, 
Penn  would  have  been  a  happier  man,  but  they 
began  to  rain  upon  him  now.  /His  daughter 
Letitia  married  William  Aubrey,  who  appears  to 
have  been  a  cannibal  and  desired  to  live  on  his 
father-in-law.  )  He  clamored  for  the  payment  of 
his  wife's  portion  much  faster  than  Penn  could 
pay  it,  and  Logan  describes  him  as  "  one  of  the 

*  Original  thought. 


JEt.  62.  J  THE  FALSE  ALARM.  327 

keenest  men  living."  Young  William's  credi- 
tors were  also  pressing  the  Governor.  "  Both 
son  and  daughter  clamor,"  said  Penn,  "  she  to 
quiet  him  that  is  a  scraping  man  and  will  count 
interest  for  a  guinea ;"  young  William  had  en- 
tirely renounced  the  Society  of  Friends,  ran  for 
Parliament  and  got  left,  and  wanted  to  enter 
the  army. 

In  the  province  Evans  was  vainly  endeavoring 
to  re-unite  the  territories  and  the  province,  and 
as  vainly  trying  to  get  the  Assembly  to  vote  a 
supply  for  the  Government  and  pay  up  their 
quit-rents,  the  Assembly  being  convinced  that 
the  £2,000  they  had  voted  some  years  before 
would,  if  it  were  ever  collected,  run  the  prov- 
ince for  fifty  years.  As  to  the  quit-rents,  they 
said,  they  were  reserved  for  the  support  of  the 
Government, — which  was  probably  intended  for 
a  joke.  There  was  very  little  money  in  Penn- 
sylvania at  that  time,  and  had  the  Assembly  de- 
sired to  vote  a  revenue,  it  could  hardly  have 
been  collected. 

Governor  Evans  had  William  Biles  impris- 
oned for  calling  him  a  boy,  and  saying  "  they 
would  kick  him  out,  because  he  was  not  fit  to 
govern  them."  He  was  making  strong  efforts 


328  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1706. 

to  organize  a  militia,  and,  to  test  the  sense  of 
the  people,  he  one  day  caused  a  report  to  be 
circulated  that  the  French  were  coming  up  the 
river,  and  then  rushing  into  the  street,  sword  in 
hand,  Evans  called  upon  the  people  to  arm  and 
follow  him.  Instead  of  following  him,  however, 
the  population  broke  for  the  woods,  by  a  large 
majority.  This  disheartening  indication  that 
the  martial  spirit  was  either  dead  or  in  a  rapid 
decline  was  very  discouraging  to  the*  Deputy 
Governor.  However,  he  succeeded  in  persuad- 
ing the  territories  to  build  a  fort  at  New  Castle, 
at  which  the  ships  reported  or  which  they  ran 
by,  as  they  saw  lit.  The  Assembly  drew  up 
articles  of  impeachment  against  Logan,  Evans's 
secretary,  and  finally  addressed  the  proprietary 
such  a  letter  of  remonstrance,  in  which  were  set 
forth  all  the  follies  and  evils  of  Evans's  adminis- 
tration, that  Penn  recalled  him  and  he  left  the 
province  in  1708. 

Among  other  very  wise  and  useful  maxims 
that  he  wrote  for  the  guidance  and  instruction 
of  other  people,  William  Penn,  after  due  de- 
liberation and  the  usual  period  of  incubation, 
evolved  the  following  nugget  of  solid  wisdom  : 
"  A  man  may  be  defrauded  in  many  ways  by  a 


jEt.  63.]  PENH'S  CONFIDENTIAL  STEWARD.      $2g 

servant ;  as  in  care,  pains,  money,  trust."  And 
about  this  time  he  began  to  understand  how 
that  might  be  himself. 

Philip  Ford  was  Penn's  confidential  man ;  his 
steward.  That  is,  he  had  been.  At  this  time 
he  was  dead,  and  had  probably  gone  where  the 
other  rich  man  went,  and  was  spending  all  his 
time  prospecting  for  water,  with  never  an  in- 
dication, or  a  show  of  color.  He  was,  in  his 
life-time,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
an  eminently  respectable  man,  though  not  so 
good  a  man  as  John  Evans.  Penn  liked  him, 
for  some  inscrutable  reason,  placed  all  con- 
fidence in  him,  gave  him  full  charge  of  all  his 
affairs,  never  looked  into  his  accounts,  and  in 
every  way  treated  him  as  though  he  were 
cashier  of  a  bank  and  Penn  were  only  presi- 
dent. When  Ford  wanted  any  papers  signed, 
he  simply  told  any  lie  about  them  that  hapr- 
pened  to  come  handy,  and  William  Penn  said, 
"  Oh,  never  mind,  Friend  Ford,  anything  thee 
does  is  O.  K,"  and  blandly  signed  them. 

The  result  of  all  this  easy  book-keeping  was 
just  what  any  ordinary  business-man  would 
have  known  it  would  be ;  in  a  few  years  the 
servant  had  so  much  more  money  than  the  mas- 


330  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1707. 

ter,  that  when  Penn  wanted  to  come  to  Amer- 
ica the  second  time  he  was  a  little  short,  and 
Philip  Ford  said  he  could  let  him  have  ^2,800. 
As  a  mere  matter  of  form,  however,  not  that 
it  was  really  necessary  between  them  as  man 
and  man,  you  understand,  but  to  give  the  affair 
a  business-like  finish,  you  know,  if  he  would 
just .  make  a  kind  of  deed  of  the  province  to 
Ford,  as  a  sort  of  security  like  ? 

"  Why,  certainly,"  Penn  said,  and  signed  the 
deed. 

"It  is  really  a  deed,"  said  the  steward,  "but 
we  will  consider  it  just  a  mortgage." 

"  Oh  yes,"  said  this  singularly  easy-going 
Governor,  "we'll  play  it  is  a  mortgage."  And 
lie  went  on  his  way,  repeating  to  himself  the 
following  selections  from  his  excellent  maxims : 

"  An  able  bad  man  is  an  ill  instrument,  and 
to  be  shunned  as  the  plague. 

"  Be  not  deceived  with  the  first  appearance 
of  things,  but  give  thyself  time  to  be  in  the 
right. 

"It  is  fll  mistaking  where  the  matter  is  of 
importance. 

"  It  is  not  enough  that  a  thing  be  right,  if  it 
be  not  fit  to  be  done.  If  not  prudent,  though 


JEt.  63.]          SHUTTING  DOWN  ON  HIM.  331 

just,   it  is  not   advisable.      He   that  loses    by 
getting  had  better  lose  than  get." 

Ford  continued  in  favor  and  confidence  and 
full  fellowship,  receiving  and  disbursing  mo- 
neys, charging  compound  interest  every  six 
months  at  eight  per  cent  in  all  his  advances,  and 
Penn  continued  to  know  nothing  about  it  all, 
until  the  rascally  old  steward  died  and  went 
as  hereinbefore-mentioned.  Then  his  son,  who 
was  worse  than  his  father,  and  widow  Ford, 
who  was  worse  than  her  son,  returned  from  the 
funeral  and  came  down  upon  the  astonished 
Governor  with  this  conveyance  of  the  prov- 
ince in  one  hand  and  a  bill  for  £14,000,  or 
£12,000,  or  £10,500,  as  the  case  may  be,  de- 
pending upon  which  authority  you  accept. 
Penn  didn't  have  that  amount  right  in  his 
clothes,  and  asked  for  an  itemized  bill,  by 
which  it  appeared  that  his  steward,  by  his  own 
accounts,  had  received  on  behalf  of  Penn 
£17,859,  and  paid  out  £1,659,  but  still,  so  deftly 
were  those  papers  manipulated,  they  brought 
Penn  more  than  £10,500  in  his  steward's  debt. 
It  was  the  interest  that  ran  it  up  so.  The 
Fords  had  charged  interest  both  on  their  ad- 
vances and  on  Penn's  payments,  then  they 


332  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1707. 

added  both  interest  accounts  together,  com- 
pounded it,  and  deducting  the  amount  from  the 
payment,  added  it  to  their  original  advance, 
and  then  computed  interest  on  it  from  that 
date.  So  that  every  time  Penn  made  a  pay- 
ment of  £300  it  cost  him  £450  to  make  it  good, 
and  it  would  have  been  money  in  his  pocket  to 
have  stayed  out  altogether  and  made  no  pay- 
ments. It  requires  a  man  of  broad  compre- 
hension, profound  judgment,  liberal  education, 
and  a  quick  intuition  to  comprehend  the  mys- 
teries of  scientific  book-keeping. 

Penn,  by  the  assistance  of  two  experts,  man- 
aged to  cut  the  claim  down  to  .£4,303,  which  he 
offered  to  pay,  but  the  Fords  demanded  their 
pound  of  flesh,  and  the  case  went  into  court. 
The  special  case  of  debt,  the  original  .£2,000, 
was  affirmed,  the  sum  amounting  with  costs  to 
about  £3,000,  and  on  the  loth  of  February  Gov- 
ernor William  Penn  was  arrested  by  a  member 
of  his  own  Society  of  Friends,  at  Grace  Street 
Church.  Acting  on  legal  advice,  Penn  went 
into  Fleet  Street  Prison,  and  so  he  got  around 
to  where  he  started.  Thirty-seven  years  be- 
fore, a  file  of  soldiers  arrested  him  while  he  was 
preaching  at  this  very  church,  and  dragged 


JEt.  64.]     SENTIMENT  AND  REFLECTION.  333 

him  away  to  prison.  And  now  it  was  a  Qua- 
ker who,  disregarding  his  standing  in  the 
Society  of  which  they  were  both  members,  with 
no  respect  for  his  high  station  in  the  world, 
with  no  reverence  for  his  gray  hairs,  with  no 
more  claim  of  right  or  justice  than  the  soldiers 
of  Charles  were  armed  with,  arrested  the  old 
man  at  a  Quaker  meeting-house,  and  forced 
him  to  prison.  This  world  is  made  up  mainly 
of  men  and  women,  and  people  are  very  much 
like  people  after  all. 

Penn  lay  in  prison  about  nine  months,  when 
the  Fords  began  to  talk  of  a  compromise.,  The 
proprietary  then  mortgaged  the  province  once 
more,  having  derived  so  much  profit  and  pleas- 
ure from  the  first  mortgage,  and  raised  .£6,800. 
The  Fords  were  paid  £7,500,  and  Penn  left  the 
prison  and  went  to  his  home  in  Brentford, 
having  had  abundant  leisure,  during  his  prison 
life,  to  amass  material  for  one  more  maxim, 
"You  can't  most  always  tell  anything  about 
nobody." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

AT  REST. 

pOLONEL  GOOKIN,  the  new  Deputy  Gov- 
M  ernor,  arrived  in  Pennsylvania  about  five 
o'clock  on  the  evening  of  March  I7th,  and  was 
knee-deep  in  the  usual  wrangle  with  the  As- 
sembly at  seven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the 
1 8th.  The  quarrel  should  and  would  have 
begun  the  evening  before  he  got  there,  had  the 
two  parties  known  where  to  find  each  other. 
The  Assembly  reflected  upon  the  Council, 
made  direct  charges  against  Logan,  the  Secre- 
tary, abused  Evans  roundly,  refused  to  furnish 
the  Queen  the  hundred  and  fifty  soldiers  she 
demanded,  and  only  offered  to  vote  money 
under  conditions  that  were  resented  by  the 
Governor  as  mean  and  discourteous,  and  gener- 
ally trod  on  everybody's  corns  that  were  with- 
in reach  of  the  legislative  heel. 

The  next  Assembly,  chosen  in  October  of 
this  same  year,  was  a  little  worse  than  its  pre- 
decessor; the  same  old  party  was  successful, 


^Et.  6s.]      THE  EXPOSTULATORY  LETTER.          335 

and  David  Lloyd  was  again  elected  Speaker. 
Logan  came  to  England,  received  a  triumphant 
acquittal  at  the  hands  of  both  Friends  and  civil 
authorities, — somewhat  remote  from  the  loca- 
tion of  the  charges,  it  is  true,  but  he  was  ac- 
quitted, none  the  less, — and  while  there  he  told 
Penn  all  this  pleasant  news  about  the  model 
state. 

Sixty-five  years  and  much  trouble  were  be- 
ginning to  tell  on  the  rugged  frame  of  the 
Founder,  but  he  could  not  give  up  the  "  Holy 
Experiment"  without  one  more  effort  to  restore 
to  its  councils  the  harmony  and  fraternal  confi- 
dence with  which  it  had  been  planted.  He 
wrote  his  factious  colonists  a  patriarchal  epistle 
from  London,  in  which  he  ran  over  his  old 
dreams  and  plans  and  present  hopes  for  Penn- 
sylvania ;  mourned  that  it  had  been  to  him  but 
a  source  of  "  grief,  trouble,  and  poverty ;"  de- 
clared his  readiness  to  grant  them  anything 
that  "  would  make  you  happier  in  the  relations 
between  us ;"  reminded  them  that  already  they 
had  made  three  constitutions  with  no  opposi- 
tion from  him ;  protested  against  the  As- 
sembly's assuming  to  meet  and  adjourn  when 
it  will  as  prejudicial  to  good  order ;  and  told 


336  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1709. 

them  "  nothing  could  be  more  destructive  than 
to  take  so  much  of  the  provision  and  executive 
part  of  the  Government  out  of  the  Gov- 
ernor's hands  and  lodge  it  in  an  uncertain  col- 
lective body,"  and  that  he  did  not  think  it 
"  prudent  in  the  people  to  crave  these  powers." 
Alas,  poor  Penn!  Before  many  years  the 
people  in  the  American  colonies  were  craving 
a  great  many  powers  that  their  non-resident 
Governors  did  not  think  it  "  prudent"  for  them 
to  have.  The  Founder  complained  that  he 
"had  but  too  sorrowful  a  view  and  sight  to 
complain  of  the  manner  in  which  he  had  been 
treated;"  that  "my  quit-rents,  never  sold  by 
me,"  had  been  turned  to  the  support  of  the 
Government,  his  overplus  land  claimed ;  his 
secretary  persecuted  on  account  of  the  Gov- 
ernor ;  that  Penn  himself  and  his  "  suffering 
family"  had  "been  reduced  to  hardships;"  he 
asked  them  to  "  consider  the  regard  due  to 
him  that  had  not  been  paid,"  and  with  much 
gentle  and  touching  expostulation,  and  earnest 
prayers  for  the  blessings  of  "  peace,  love,  and 
industry"  upon  "our  poor  country,"  he  sub- 
scribes himself  "  your  real  friend  as  well  as  just 
proprietor  and  Governor." 


jEt.  66.]  PENN  TRIUMPHANTLY  SUSTAINED.   337 

This  expostulatory  epistle  touched  the  right 
spot.  The  State  Central  Committee  made  a 
campaign  document  of  it  and  franked  it  all  over 
the  state ;  the  Friends  turned  out  on  election- 
day  and  stayed  all  day  at  the  polls  and  worked 
like  beavers,  with  the  exception  of  the  gaudy 
and  frivolous  worldly  mill-privileges  enjoyed 
and  employed  by  beavers,  and  in  the  election 
for  the  Assembly  of  1710  the  Founder  was 
vindicated,  Pennsylvania  was  saved,  the  gray 
light  of  victory  shone  on  the  upturned  faces  of 
the  vanguard,  reform  was  triumphant,  calumny 
and  aspersion  fled  away  in  the  black  night  of 
a  nation's  rebuke,  and  the  traitorous  hand  that 
lifted  its  envenomed  tongue  to  stab  the  heart 
of  the  state  hid  its  grovelling  head  in  the  dust 
of  defeat,  while  the  black  night  of  arnica  that 
threatened  to  overwhelm  our  glorious  ship  of 
state  was  trampled  under  the  indignant  feet  of 
the  godlike  voice  of  the  people.  David  Lloyd 
was  kicked  higher  than  Gilderoy's  celebrated 
kite,  not  one  of  the  old  Assembly  was  reelected, 
the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  did  not  go  home 
till  morning,  and  Isaac  Norris  got  off  a  joke.*" 

*  It  was  about  "astral   influences, "a  very  mild-mannered 


338  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1710. 

Good- will  and  general  concord  now  reigned 
in  the  councils  of  Pennsylvania.  The  new  As- 
sembly, when  the  Queen  made  a  requisition  on 
the  province  for  war  supplies,  passed  a  bill 
appropriating  "£2,000  for  the  Queen's  use." 
"  We  did  not  see  it  inconsistent  with  our  prin- 
ciples," gravely  explains  one  of  the  members, 
"  to  give  the  Queen  money,  the  use  to  which 
she  put  it  being  her  affair,  not  ours."  But 
they  wouldn't  vote  a  dollar  of  war  supplies. 
And  thus  his  satanic  majesty  was  larrupped 
around  the  shrubbery  even  as  a  calico  horse 
around  the  circus-ring.  As  the  province  voted 
no  war  supplies,  the  Queen  bought  a  ship-load 
of  powder  and  muskets  and  paid  off  two  regi- 
ments of  soldiers  *  with  the  money,  nobody's 
conscience  was  disturbed,  and  everybody  was 
happy. 

As  if  to  crown  this  year  of  good  things  with 
fatness,  word  reached  Penn  that  a  silver-mine 
had  been  discovered  in  his  province,  near 
Conestoga.  The  news  was  brought  to  the 


joke,  which  is  carefully  labelled  and  explained  as  "a  piece  of 
pleasantry"  by  his  biographer. 

*  The  pay  of  the  British  soldier  was  sixteen  cents  a  year  and 
find  himself. 


JEt.  67]  AN  INDIAN  SILVER-MINE.  339 

Council  by  an  Indian.  Neither  the  Council 
nor  Penn  had  yet  learned  how  difficult  it  is  for 
any  but  an  expert  to  distinguish  a  full-grown 
Indian  from  an  able-bodied  liar,  and  these 
innocent  men  believed  him.  The  Governor 
had  an  eye  like  a  hawk  for  anything  that 
looked  like  money,  and  the  next  mail  carried 
letters  of  instruction  to  his  secretary  to  look 
into  this  silver-mine,  hire  an  expert  to  go  out 
to  it,  and  see  whether  it  assayed  half  so  much 
ore  as  it  did  ten  times  as  much  assessments. 

There  was  no  silver-mine.  The  Indian  liar, 
asking  the  Council  to  excuse  him  while  he  went 
out  and  laughed,  went  back  into  the  trackless 
forest  with  one  eye  closed  and  his  aboriginal 
tongue  thrust  far  into  the  recesses  of  his  dusky 
cheek,  while  ever  and  anon  he  smote  with  open 
palm  his  sinewy  thigh  and  carolled  his  wild 
laughter  to  the  rustling  oaks.  Thus  upon  the 
invading  race  of  pale-faced  men  he  had  played 
his  unusual  joke  with  his  accustomed  Indian- 
nuity.*  It  may  have  been  that  with  prophetic 
eye  the  savage  looked  up  Chestnut  Street  and 

*  Joke  of  1711.  No  extra  charge.  For  particulars,  see 
MSS.  now  on  file  in  the  stumpage  bureau  of  the  Interior  De- 
partment. 


340  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1711. 

saw  the  Keystone  National  Bank  and  the 
United  States  Mint,  but  those  inexhaustible 
mines,  ~  though  located  in  his  own  province, 
William  Penn  had  never  a  chance  to  work. 
His  paper  wasn't  sufficiently  gilt-edged  for  the 
one,  and  his  bullion  was  too  prior  for  the 
other. 

His  final  chapter  of  literary  work  was  written 
this  year,  a  preface  to  John  Banks's  Journal,  and 
it  indicates  no  mental  weakness,  no  approach  of 
the  decay  of  that  intellectual  vigor  that  had 
marked  all  his  writings,  no  shadow  of  the  cloud 
that  was  soon  to  darken  the  clear  mind.  On 
the  whole,  the  evening  was  gathering  about 
him  pleasantly.  There  was  peace  in  his  beloved 
province,  and  if  the  silver-mine  did  not  pan  out, 
there  was  an  ocean  of  petroleum,  and  had  the 
colonists  only  had  Colonel  Drake  for  a  Gov- 
ernor, the  Standard  Oil  Company  would  have 
owned  all  western  Pennsylvania  before  the 
Revolution. 

The  Assembly  of  1711  passed  a  law  prohibit- 
ing the  importation  of  any  more  slaves,  and 
although,  in  reply  to  William  Southbe's  petition 
for  a  law  declaring  the  freedom  of  all  negroes, 
the  Assembly  in  1712  resolved  "it  is  neither 


JEt.  68.]  THE   WEIGHT  OF    YEARS.  341 

just  nor  convenient  to  set  them  at  liberty,"  still 
the  leaven  of  abolitionism  was  working.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  the  act  of  1711  was 
promptly  cancelled  by  the  Crown  as  soon  as  it 
reached  England,  for  the  mother-country  was 
in  the  slave-trade  then  with  great  profit  and 
eagerness.  Parliament  was  doing  all  it  could  to 
promote  the  inhuman  traffic ;  in  some  instances 
— notably  in  Pennsylvania — it  was  fairly  forced 
upon  the  colonies,  and  not  until  the  days  of  '76 
did  freedom  come  to  the  negro  even  in  the 
Northern  States. 

For  several  years  Penn  had  been  negotiating 
with  the  home  government  for  the  sale  of  his 
province  to  the  Crown.  His  province  was 
decorated  with  that  clinging  symbol  of  fidelity 
and  attachment  known  as  a  plain  open-and-shut 
mortgage;  the  annual  yield  of  quit-rents  con- 
tinued to  be  represented  by  a  round  and  sym- 
metrical O,  the  cares  and  worry  of  provincial 
affairs  were  weighing  heavily  upon  him,  and 
for  his  peace  of  mind  and  health  of  pocket  it 
was  perhaps  better  that  he  should  sell.  He 
was  an  old  man ;  he  had  well-nigh  reached  the 
limit  that  bounds  the  ordinary  life-time  of  men  ; 
affliction  and  cares  of  many  kinds,  anxiety  for 


342  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1712. 

his  province  and  anxious  sorrow  for  his  way- 
ward boy,  persecutions  and  prisons  and  sixty- 
eight  years  were  accomplishing  their  perfect 
work  on  his  mind  and  body.  Regretfully  he 
put  his  hand  to  the  preliminary  papers  relating 
to  the  sale  of  his  model  state,  which  he  finally 
agreed  should  pass  to  the  Crown  for  "£12,000, 
payable  in  four  years,  with  certain  stipulations." 
But  before  the  deed  was  executed,  paralysis 
checked  the  hand  and  clouded  the  brain  of  the 
Founder,  and  the  transfer  was  never  made ; 
William  Penn  died  proprietor  and  Governor  of 
Pennsylvania. 

From  the  second  shock  of  paralysis  which 
came  upon  him  in  Bristol,  "while  he  was  writ- 
ing a  letter  to  Logan,  so  suddenly,"  Janney 
says,  "  that  his  hand  was  arrested  in  the  begin- 
ning of  a  sentence  which  he  never  completed," 
he  never  entirely  recovered.  In  this  last  letter 
by  his  hand,  the  Founder  treats  upon  his  never- 
failing  theme  of  poverty,  "  for  it's  my  excessive 
expenses  upon  Pennsylvania  that  has  sunk  me 
so  low,  and  nothing  else;  my  expenses  yearly 
in  England  ever  exceeding  my  income ;".... 
both  my  daughter  and  son  Aubrey  are  under 
the  greatest  uneasiness  about  their  money 


JEt.  68.]  THE  PEN  IS  DROPPED.  343 

which  I  desire,  as  well  as  allow  thee  to  return 
per  first.  'Tis  an  epidemic  disease  on  your  side 
the  sea  to  be  too  oblivious  of  returns.  ...  I  have 
paid  William  Aubrey*  (with  a  mad,  bullying 
treatment  from  him  into  the  bargain)  but  £500, 
which  with  several  hundreds  paid  at  several 
times  to  him  here  makes  near  £1,100,  besides 
what  thou  hast  sold  and  put  out  to  interest 
there, — which  is  so  deep  a  cut  to  me  here ; — 
and  nothing  but  my  son's  tempestuous  and 
most  rude  treatment  of  my  wife  and  self  too 
should  have  forced  it  to  me.  Therefore  do  not 
lessen  thy  care  to  pay  me,  or  at  least  to  secure 
the  money  on  her  manor  of  Mount  Joy,  for  a 
plantation  for  me  or  one  of  my  children."  The 
closing  sentence  of  the  unfinished  letter  runs: 
"  I  am  glad  to  see  Sybylla  Masters,  who  has 
just  come  down  to  the  city  and  is  with  us,  but 
sorry  at  M.  Phillips's  coming,  without  just  a 
hint  of  it.  She" — 

The  pen  that  dropped  from  his  hand  was 
never  resumed.  After  he  recovered  somewhat, 
"by  easy  journeys  he  reached  London,"  writes 
his  wife,  "  and  endeavored  to  settle  some  affairs 

*  Letitia's  husband. 


344  WILLIAM  PENN.  [17:2. 

and  get  some  laws  passed  for  that  country's 
ease  and  his  own  and  family's  comfort."  He 
was  unable,  however,  "  to  bear  the  fatigues  of 
the  town,"  and  went  to  his  home  in  Ruscombe, 
where  he  had  resided  for  the  past  two  years. 
Scarcely  had  he  reached  home,  however,  early 
in  February,  when  a  third  time  he  was  stricken 
with  paralysis,  "and  though,"  writes  Hannah 
Penn,  "  through  the  Lord's  mercy  he  is  much 
better  than  he  was,  and  in  a  pretty  hopeful  way 
of  recovery,  yet  I  am  forbid  by  his  doctors  to 
trouble  him  with  any  business  until  better." 

She  never  troubled  him  with  business  again, 
but  took  his  case  into  her  own  hands  with  true 
wifely  devotion.  Six  years  Penn  lived  after 
his  third  attack,  and  the  closing  scenes  of  his 
life  were  "  sweet,  comfortable,  and  easy ;"  his 
wife  kept  "  the  thoughts  of  business  from  him  ;" 
his  bodily  health  continued  good  ;  he  took  great 
pleasure  in  the  presence  of  the  children  of  his 
wayward  son  William,  whose  neglected  wife 
and  family  were  at  Ruscombe ;  but  his  memory 
failed,  his  mind  was  darkened,  and  so,  delight- 
ing himself  in  the  great  house  at  Ruscombe, 
"  walking  and  taking  the  air  when  the  weather 
allowed,  and  at  other  times  diverting  himself 


£t.  74-]      IN  THE  JORDANS  CHURCHYARD.          345 

from  room  to  room,"  he  walked  in  childish 
pleasures  and  his  own  native  innocence  down 
the  easy  decline  of  his  pilgrimage,  until  he 
reached  the  resting-place  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill  on  the  3Oth  of  July,  1718,  in  the  seventy- 
fifth  year  of  a  life  that  had  crowned  its  little 
faults  with  great  virtues. 

They  buried  him  in  the  Friends  graveyard  at 
Jordans,  in  Buckinghamshire,  by  the  side  of  his 
well-beloved  Gulielma.  Only  two  miles  away 
from  Jordans,  on  one  side,  is  Beaconsfield  ;  about 
as  far  in  the  other  direction  is  Chalfont  St.  Giles, 
where  first  he  met  Guli  Springett,  nearly  half  a 
century  before.  Only  six  miles  away  is  Rick- 
mansworth,  where  he  took  Guli  to  spend  her 
.honeymoon.  Only  eight  miles  away  is  the  old 
village  of  Penn,  which  is  said  to  have  taken  its 
name  from  Penn's  ancestors  and  where  the  only 
Penn  born  in  America,  John,  is  buried.  It  is  a 
quiet  resting-place.  The  plain  tiled  meeting- 
house with  its  old-fashioned  lattice  windows  ; 
the  three-roomed  cottage,  where  the  women 
still  hold  their  business  meetings ;  the  roomy 
stabling  covered  by  the  extended  roof  of  the 
meeting-house  ;  and,  close  by,  the  little  oblong 
burial-ground,  are  all  shut  in  by  leafy  limes  and 


346  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1718. 

beeches,  and  beyond  the  woods  the  pleasant 
meadows  stretch  away  in  lonely  restfulness; 
only  a  single  house  can  be  seen  in  any  direction 
from  Jordans.  Here  lies  Thomas  Ellwood,  Guli 
Springett's  first  lover,  who  loved  her  so  dearly 
he  dared  not  speak  of  it,  fearing  the  blow  of  a 
rejection ;  but  he  was  ever  a  warm  and  faithful 
friend  to  her  and  her  husband.  Here  Penn's 
wives  are  buried ;  here  sleep  their  children, 
Springett,  the  first-born,  and  Letitia ;  here  rest 
the  Penningtons,  Guli's  step-father  and  mother  ; 
here  is  buried  Ellwood's  wife  ;  and  somewhere 
in  this  little  burial-ground  William  Penn  is 
sleeping. 

Just  exactly  where,  nobody  knows.  Only  a 
short  time  since,  the  people  of  Pennsylvania 
thought  an  agreeable  and  eminently  proper 
feature  in  the  bicentenary  celebration  of  the 
founding  of  the  model  state,  which  will  occur 
in  October,  1882,  would  be  the  removal  of  the 
remains  of  the  Founder  from  England  to  the 
state  he  founded.  The  report  of  this  intention 
reached  Jordans  about  June,  just  the  time  of 
holding  the  regular  Yearly  Meeting,  and  a  feel- 
ing was  produced  which  was  something  akin  to 
excitement.  The  Friends  in  the  Chalfont  valleys 


jEt.  74. ]          POSTHUMOUS  REVERENCE.  347 

suddenly  remembered  how  dear  William  Penn 
was  to  them,  and  this  feeling  spread  like  a  con- 
tag-ion  through  all  England.  Everybody  in 
England  loved  William  Penn,  and  dearly  and 
tenderly  did  they  revere  his  memory,  and  lov- 
ingly would  they  guard,  even  as  the  apples  of 
their  eyes,  his  sacred  bones.  True,  their  fathers 
had  oftentimes  plunged  those  sacred  bones  into 
filthy  prisons,  when  the  bones  regarded  love 
and  hate  a  great  deal  more  sensitively  than 
they  do  now  ;  true,  their  most  brilliant  historian 
had  been  the  only  man  in  all  the  world  of  letters 
found  willing  and  anxious  to  blacken  the  name 
and  smirch  the  fair  fame  of  William  Penn,  but 
no  matter.  Dear  were  his  bones  and  sacred 
his  memory,  and  now  no  prowling  hand  from 
Yankee-land  should  violate  his  sacred  grave 
with  its  polluting  touch.  And  then  when  they 
thought  of  the  boundless  rapacity  of  the  Ohio 
medical  student,  and  the  hyenaic  enterprise  of 
the  man  who  robbed  the  grave  of  Stewart, — not 
any  English  king  of  that  name,  but  an  Ameri- 
can Stewart  whose  grave  was  worth  robbing, — 
they  trembled,  and  besought  the  Government 
to  set  a  trusty  man-at-arms  to  keep  a  faithful 
watch  and  ward  above  the  grave  of  Penn. 


348  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1718. 

Just  about  that  point  the  interest  in  the  dis- 
cussion culminated.  The  Government  was  per- 
fectly willing  that  the  man-at-arms  should  watch 
the  grave  of  Penn,  but — which  grave  should  he 
watch  ? 

That,  gentle  reader,  was  the  gaul  of  it.  No- 
body knows  positively  where  William  Penn  is 
buried.  He  is  buried  somewhere  in  the  grave- 
yard of  Jordans,  but  that  is  all  we  know. 
Many  years  ago  the  "  Testimony  of  Reading 
Friends"  bore  witness  that  "  the  field  in  which 
the  illustrious  dead  repose  is  not  even  decent- 
ly smoothed.  There  are  no  gravel-walks, 
no  monuments,  no  mournful  yews,  no  cheerful 
flowers  ;  there  is  not  even  a  stone  to  mark  a 
spot  or  record  a  name."  For  one  hundred  and 
forty-four  years  these  graves  lay  unmarked,  and 
the  first  attempt  to  identify  and  mark  any  of 
them  was  made  in  June,  1862.  And  when,  even 
after  this  attempt  at  identification  had  been 
made,  and  people  who  had  visited  the  grave  of 
William  Penn  were  mortified  to  learn  they  had 
wept  and  plucked  blades  of  grass  from  the  rest- 
ing-place of  Isaac  Pennington  or  Mrs.  Ellwood, 
it  was  learned  that  the  attempted  identification 
'that  disturbed  their  reminiscences  and  ruined 


JEt.  74-]     IDENTIFICATION  IMPOSSIBLE.  349 

their  relics  was  untrustworthy.  The  trustees 
of  the  Jordans  burial-ground,  scarcely  longer 
ago  than  a  year,  declined  to  pledge  themselves 
to  a  precise  identification  of  Penn's  grave.  For 
a  century  and  a  half  the  grave  was  unmarked. 
In  all  that  time  a  rough  and  by  no  means  cer- 
tain plan  of  the  graveyard  was  the  only  clue  to 
the  location  of  any  of  the  graves,  and  it  is  more 
than  doubted  whether  identification  is  at  all  pos- 
sible. So,  even  if  Pennsylvania  should  get  the 
handful  of  nameless  dust  that  reposes  under  the 
stone  marked — for  the  past  twenty  years — with 
Penn's  name,  it  would  only  be  a  doubtful  quan- 
tity. 

And  why  should  Pennsylvania  want  his  bones, 
that  never  had  his  body  ?  While  his  ideas  were 
American,  Penn  was  by  birth  and  residence  an 
Englishman.  In  the  thirty-six  years  that  he  was 
proprietor  and  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  from 
1682  to  1718,  he  spent  but  four  years  in  Amer- 
ica, and  these  in  visits  of  two  years  each,  sepa- 
rated by  an  interval  of  about  sixteen  years. 
And  much  of  the  want  of  harmony  between  the 
Founder  and  the  colonists,  often  unjustly  charged 
to  the  grasping  spirit  of  the  latter,  was  owing 
to  his  own  continued  absence.  He  was  a 


35°  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1718. 

stranger  to  his  province,  as  the  colonists  were 
strangers  to  him.  They  couldn't  go  to  England 
to  get  acquainted  with  the  Founder,  and  he 
wouldn't,  or  at  any  rate  didn't,  come  to  America 
often  enough  or  stay  long  enough  to  get  ac- 
qainted  with  them.  As  he  didn't  live  here,  and 
of  his  own  will  chose  Jordans  for  his  last  resting- 
place,  there  seems  no  reason  why  his  remains — 
"  supposing,"  in  the  language  of  the  trustees  of 
the  Jordans  burial-ground,  "that  they  did  ex- 
ist"— should  be  disturbed. 

If  the  ancient  Pennsylvanians  were  accused 
by  the  Founder  and  his  friends  of  avarice  and 
ingratitude,  of  grasping  overmuch,  and  of 
"thinking  it  no  sin,"  as  Logan  said,  "to  haul 
what  they  can  from  you,"  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  proprietary  and  the  colonists 
looked  at  these  things  from  very  different  points 
of  view;  that  the  growing  spirit  of  freedom 
and  popular  government,  on  even  a  broader 
basis  of  popular  rights  than  Penn  had  con- 
ceived, was  developing  beyond  his  conception 
in  a  colony  with  which  his  actual  personal  con- 
nection was  so  slight.  They  would  not  pay  his 
quit-rents,  but  it  was  on  principle,  not  from 
niggardly  meanness.  And  while  they  held  back 


&t.  74.]  HONORS  ARE  EASY.  35 1 

on  the  one  hand,  certainly  no  man  ever'accused 
Penn  of  any  undue  bashfulness  about  asking  for 
money.  His  letters  to  Pennsylvania  were  one 
continuous  song  of  poverty,  his  great  financial 
losses  by  his  provincial  speculation,  and  urgent 
requests  for  supplies  and  quit-rents.  Like  the 
theme  in  an  intricate  musical  transcription, 
whatever  other  topic  his  letters  touched  upon, 
the  song  of  the  quit-rents  moaned  along  through 
them  all  like  a  bassoon  solo  with  orchestral 
accompaniment.  And  at  his  death,  for  a  man 
who  had  spent  forty  years  complaining  of  pov- 
erty, he  was  able  to  leave  his  family  in  compara- 
tively comfortable  circumstances.  His  estates 
in  England  and  Ireland,  bringing  an  income  of 
^"1,500  a  year,  were  left  to  his  grandchildren — 
Guli,  Springett,  and  William  Penn — the  chil- 
dren of  his  prodigal  son.*  In  addition  he  left 
to  these  children  and  to  his  daughter  Letitia, 
being  issue  of  his  first  wife,  each  ten  thousand 
acres  of  land  in  Pennsylvania.  All  the  residue 

*  This  son  William  never  reformed.  He  abandoned  his 
family,  went  to  the  Continent,  and  continued  in  the  prodigal 
business  with  eminent  success  until  1720,  when  he  died  of  con- 
sumption, brought  on  by  his  excesses.  He  was  very  penitent 
at  the  last.  His  father  never  knew  the  saddest  chapters  of  his 
^boy's  history. 


352  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1718 

of  his  Pennsylvania  lands  he  left  to  the  children 
of  his  second  wife,  Hannah  Penn,  to  be  con- 
veyed to  them  at  her  discretion,  after  enough 
had  been  sold  to  pay  his  debts.  All  his  per- 
sonal property  he  left  to  his  wife  Hannah.  The 
will  was  in  chancery  several  years,  as  usual ;  for 
no  man,  even  though  he  be  a  Governor  and 
a  wise  man,  can  make  a  will  that  does  not  read 
three  or  four  different  ways;  but  all  was  eventu- 
ally left  as  the  testator  wished.  John,  Thomas, 
and  Richard — Penn's  sons  by  his  second  mar- 
riage— became  proprietors  of  the  province,  and 
presently  the  Penn  family  began  to  reap  a  gold- 
en harvest  from  the  Pennsylvania  plantation. 

After  the  war  of  Independence,  the  Penns 
not  taking  a  remarkably  active  part  on  the  side 
of  the  colonies,  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature 
passed  a  bill  which  vested  in  the  common- 
wealth the  estate  of  the  Penn  family,  but  re- 
served to  William  Penn's  descendants  all  their 
private  estates,  "  including  quit-rents  and  arrear- 
ages of  rents," — for  down  to  the  end  of  recorded 
time  nothing  will  probably  ever  be  done  about 
the  Penn  estates  in  Pennsylvania  into  which 
th,e  ghost  of  the  quit-rent  will  not  come  stalk- 
ing like  a  financial  Banquo.  This  same  act. 


jEt.  74.]     THE  PENNSYLVANIA    HARVEST.          353 

appropriated  £130,000  sterling  to  be  paid  to  the 
representatives  of  Thomas  Penn  and  Richard 
Penn,  which  was  all  paid  within  a  few  years 
after  the  bill  was  passed.  When  we  bear  in 
mind  what  was  usually  done  with  the  estates  of 
foreign  non-residents  by  victorious  kings  at  the 
close  of  a  war  in  those  days,  one  cannot  complain 
that  the  Pennsyivanians  did  not  remember 
gratefully  and  loyally  the  Founder  of  their 
state,  and  for  his  sake  deal  generously,  justly, 
and,  by  the  laws  of  war  and  the  code  of  the 
time,  more  than  justly,  by  his  sons.  And  when 
it  is  remembered  that  the  British  Government 
allowed  the  heirs  of  Penn  £500,000  for  their 
losses  by  the  American  Revolution,  and  that 
the  original  cost  of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania 
was  £16,000,  and  paid  for  by  a  hopeless  debt  at 
that,  we  are  led  to  hope  that  the  heirs  of 
William  Penn  have  outlived  the  alarming  desti- 
tution and  pinching  poverty  that  was  a  burden 
on  the  life  of  their  great  ancestor.  Pennsyl- 
vania has  not  been  ungrateful  to  the  Founder. 
While  England  persecuted  him,  Pennsylvania 
was  an  asylum  for  himself  and  his  friends. 
While  English  laws  cast  him  into  prison,  the 
laws  of  Pennsylvania  were  such  as  he  made 


354  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1718. 

them.  While  an  English  historian  sought  to 
blacken  his  character,  Pennsylvania  was  ever 
his  stanch  defender.  With  a  generosity  not 
demanded  or  expected  by  the  laws  of  nations, 
Pennsylvania,  in  the  day  of  its  own  poverty 
and  hard-won  independence,  enriched  the  loyal- 
ist descendants  of  his  name,  while  its  own  noble 
son,  Morris,  his  purse  drained  by  sacrifices  for 
his  state  and  country,  died  in  poverty.  And 
jarring  differences  of  state  policy  only  arose 
between  Penn  and  the  model  state  when  the 
Founder,  by  his  long  years  of  absence,  made 
himself  a  stranger  to  the  changing  opinions  and 
growing  ideas  of  the  state  he  planted. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

"THE  NOBLEST  WORK  OF  GOD." 

'IPHE  honest  man  who  was  born  two  hundred 
•*•  and  thirty-eight  years  ago  was  no  better 
than  the  honest  man  born  in  our  own  fairer 
times,  but  he  was  a  much  greater  rarity.  To- 
day, good  men  are  so  common  they  are  often 
overlooked;  in  those  older  days,  a  good  man 
was  eagerly  sought  for,  and  when  the  au- 
thorities found  him  they  put  him  in  prison 
lest  he  should  get  away  entirely,  and  the  king- 
dom be  left  without  even  a  small  sample  of 
goodness.  If  he  was  extraordinarily  good,  they 
cut  off  his  head.  A  good  man  was  at  a  pre- 
mium, but  he  rarely  cared  to  collect  the  pre- 
mium himself,  because  he  had  a  family  to  sup- 
port. A  man  who  would  attract  not  more 
than  ordinary  attention  to-day  shone  out  then 
like  a  comet  among  stars.  In  that  elder  day  it 
was  a  rare  advantage  with 'serious  drawbacks 
for  a  good  man  with  a  live  conscience  to  live. 


350  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1718. 

He  enjoyed  a  monopoly  of  the  business,  until 
it  occurred  to  some  bishop  to  make  a  sacred 
bonfire  of  him. 

It  was  in  such  an  era  of  the  world's  history 
that  William  Penn  came  upon  the  stage  of 
human  affairs,  and  was  hailed  as  a  star  before 
the  curtain  went  down  on  the  first  act.  In 
such  an  age,  a  man  of  character  so  decidedly 
marked,  of  convictions  so  conscientiously  felt 
and  so  earnestly  pronounced,  could  not  remain 
concealed,  could  not  walk  in  obscure  paths. 

He  had  the  faults  of  men,  the  weaknesses  of 
humanity,  because  he  was  not  a  god.  His 
faculty  of  self-interest  was  well  developed,  and 
down  to  old  age  he  retained  unimpaired  his 
excellent  voice  for  quit-rents.  His  keen  ac- 
quisitiveness, his  constant  clamor  for  his  quit- 
rents,  and  repeated  and  again  repeated  asser- 
tions of  his  grievous  poverty,  detract  from  the 
dignity  of  a  character  in  all  other  respects 
noble  and  lovable,  and  are  apt  to  impress  one 
with  pity  rather  than  sympathy.  But  it  is 
from  his  many  virtues,  and  not  from  his  few 
weaknesses,  that  we  read  the  elevating  lessons 
of  his  life. 

Born     in    stormy    times,    he    walked    amid 


<Et.  74.]     "  THE  NOBLEST  WORK  OF  GOD."  357 

troubled  waters  all  his  days.  In  an  age  of  bit- 
ter persecution  and  unbridled  wickedness,  he 
never  wronged  his  conscience.  A  favored 
member  of  a  court  where  statesmanship  was 
intrigue  and  trickery,  where  the  highest  mo- 
rality was  corruption,  and  whose  austerity  was 
venality,  he  never  stained  his  hands  with  a 
bribe.  Living  under  a  government  at  war 
with  the  people,  and  educated  in  a  school  that 
taught  the  doctrine  of  passive  obedience,  his 
life-long  dream  was  of  popular  government,  of 
a  state  where  the  people  ruled.  In  his  early 
manhood,  at  the  bidding  of  conscience,  against 
the  advice  of  his  nearest  friends,  in  opposition 
to  stern  paternal  commands,  against  every 
dictate  of  worldly  wisdom  and  human  pru- 
dence, in  spite  of  all  the  dazzling  temptations 
of  ambition  so  alluring  to  the  heart  of  a  young 
man,  he  turned  away  from  the  broad,  fair  high- 
way to«wealth,  position,  and  distinction  that  the 
hands  of  a  king  opened  before  him,  and  cast- 
ing his  lot  with  the  sect  weakest  and  most  un- 
popular in  England,  through  paths  that  were 
tangled  with  trouble  and  lined  with  pitiless 
thorns  of  persecution,  he  walked  into  honor 
and  fame,  and  the  reverence  of  the  world,  such 


358  WILLIAM  PENN.  [1718. 

as  royalty  could '  not  promise  and  could  not 
give  him. 

In  the  land  where  he  planted  his  model  state, 
to-day  no  descendant  bears  his  name.  In  the 
religious  society  for  which  he  suffered  banish- 
ment from  home,  persecution,  and  the  prison, 
to-day  no  child  of  his  blood  and  name  walks  in 
Christian  fellowship  nor  stands  uncovered  in 
worship.  His  name  has  faded  out  of  the  living 
meetings  of  the  Friends,  out  of  the  land  that 
crowns  his  memory  with  sincerest  reverence. 
Even  the  uncertain  stone  that  would  mark  his 
grave  stands  doubtingly  among  the  kindred 
ashes  that  hallow  the  ground  where  he  sleeps. 

But  his  monument,  grander  than  storied  col- 
umn of  granite  or  noble  shapes  of  bronze,  is  set 
in  the  glittering  brilliants  of  mighty  states  be- 
tween the  seas.  His  noblest  epitaph  is  written 
in  the  state  that  bears  his  honored  name.  The 
little  town  he  planned  to  be  his  capital  (has  be- 
come a  city  larger  in  area  than  any  European 
capital  he  knew.  Beyond  his  fondest  dreams 
has  grown  the  state  he  planted  in  the  wilder- 
ness by  "  deeds  of  peace."  Out  of  the  gloomy 
mines  that  slept  in  rayless  mystery  beneath  its 
mountains  while  he  lived,  the  measureless 


JEt.  74  ]     "  THE  NOBLEST  WORK  OF  GOD."  359 

wealth  of  his  model  state  sparkles  and  glows 
on  millions  of  hearth-stones.  From  its  forests 
of  derricks  and  miles  of  creeping  pipe-lines,  the 
world  is  lighted  from  the  state  of  Penn,  with  a 
radiance  to  which  the  sons  of  the  Founder's 
sons  were  blind.  Roaring  blast  and  smoky 
forge  and  ringing  hammer  are  tearing  and 
beating  the  wealth  of  princes  from  his  mines 
that  the  Founder  never  knew.  Clasping  the 
continent,  from  sea  to  sea,  stretches  a  chain  of 
states  free  as  his  own  ;  from  sunrise  to  sunset 
reaches  a  land  where  the  will  of  the  people  is 
the  supreme  law,  a  land  that  never  felt  the  pres- 
sure of  a  throne  and  never  saw  a  sceptre.  And 
in  the  heart  of  the  city  that  was  his  capital,  in 
old  historic  halls  still  stands  the  bell  that  first, 
in  the  name  of  the  doctrines  that  he  taught  his 
colonists,  proclaimed  liberty  throughout  the 
land  and  to  all  the  inhabitants  thereof.  -  This  is 
his  monument,  and  every  noble  charity  gracing 
the  state  he  founded  is  his  epitaph. 


THE  END. 


INDEX. 


ACT  OF  TOLERATION,  The,  215 

Amyrault,  Moses,  16 

Andros,  Governor,  65 

Anne,  Queen,  321 

Arran,  Earl  of,  183 

Arran,  Lord,  20 

Ashton,  Master,  223 

Assembly,  The,  125;  meets 
Governor  Fletcher,  246;  ob- 
tains increased  power,  257; 
convened  by  Penn,  276;  ac- 
tion on  slavery,  290;  dis- 
putes between  members 
from  the  province  and  the 
territories,  297;  refuses  an 
appropriation  to  the  king, 
304,  310;  address  to  Penn, 
310;  disputes  in,  314;  its 
increasing  independence, 
321;  impeaches  Logan,  328; 
action  on  Deputy-Governor 
Gookin's  arrival,  334;  ap- 
propriates money  '  for  the 
Queen's  use,"  338;  prohibits 
the  importation  of  slaves, 
340 

Aubrey,  William,  326,  342 

BALTIMORE,  LORD,  76, 153;  in 

England.  159;  273 
Banks,  John,  340 
Barclay,  Robert,  66,  235 
Baxter,  Richard,   138 
Baxter,  Thomas,  58 
Berkeley,  Lord,  61 
Besse,  49 


Biles,  William,  327 
Blackwell,  Captain  John,  216, 

217 

Blue  Anchor  Tavern,  The,  94 
Bradford,  William,  219 
Buchan,  Earl  of,  185 
Bushel,  Edward,  39 
Butler,  Sir  Nicholas,  210 
Byllynge,  Edward,  62,  63,  64 

CALLOWHILL,  Miss  HANNAH, 
260.  See  Penn,  Hannah 

Callowhill,  Thomas,  260 

Carpenter,  Samuel,  309,  322 

Carteret,  Sir  George,  61,  63 

Chalfont,  50-53 

Charles  I.,  4,  5 

Charles  II.,  6,  9,  42;  issues  his 
Declaration  of  Indulgence, 
57;  releases  Fox,  60;  blesses 
the  colonists,  65;  his  death, 
161;  touching  for  King's 
evil,  163 

Clapham,  Jonathan,  27 

Clarendon,  Lord,  223 

Clark,  Charles  Heber,  286 

Clarkson,  206,  217 

Coltness,  Sir  Robert,  266 

Conventicle  Act,  The,  35 

Coolin,  Annaky,  141 

Cork,  Bishop  of,  268 

Cornish,  gibbeted,  177 

Cromwell,  Mrs.,  53 

Cromwell,  Oliver.  See  Protec- 
tor, The 

Cromwell,  Richard,  9 


INDEX. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDULGENCE, 
The,  57 

Dixon,  Jeremiah,  21,  99,  171, 
206,  249,  255;  description 
of  Perm's  house,  279 

Durant,  320 

EAST  JERSEY, 63, 65;  riot  in,  300 
Elizabeth,  Electress,  66 
Elliott,  223 
Ellwood,     Thomas,    52,     53, 

346 

Ely,  Bishop  of,  223 

English,  Major,  144 

Evans,  John,  his  character, 
323;  his  attempts  at  govern- 
ment, 327;  his  recall,  328 

Ewer,  Friend,  143 

FALCKENSTEIN    UNO    BRUCH, 

Countess  von,  67 
Farmer,  Anthony,  195 
Fenwick.  John,  62,  64,  65 
Finney,  Sheriff  John,  325 
Fleetvvood,  General,  53 
Fleming,  Justice,  59 
Fletcher,  Governor  Benjamin, 

232,  246 

Flower,  Enoch,  95 
Ford,  Philip,  329 
Fox,  George,  12,  his  doctrines, 

13;    persecutions,     13,    60; 

sails  for  Holland,  66;  belief 

in   witches,    138;   refuses   a 

pardon,  167;  his  death,  224; 

advice  in  regard  to  slaves, 

289 

Frederick,  Prince  Palatine,  66 
Friends' Public  School,  2)8 
Fuller,  William,  224 

GAUNT,  ELIZABETH,  177 

Gibbs,  E.,  292" 

Gookin,   Colonel,   334;  meets 

the  assembly,  334 
Graeff,  Abram  Op  de,  219 
Graeff,  Derich  Op  de,  219 


Gray,  Thomas,  325 
Grey,  175 
Guest,  Judge,  320 

HALIFAX,  LORD,  95 
Hamilton,  Andrew,  318,  321 
Henderich,  Garret,  219 
Hendrickson,  Jeshro,  tried  for 

witchcraft,  141 
Hough,  Dr.,  195,  196 
Howard,  Sir  Philip,  208 

INDIAN  BEN,  143 

Indians,  The,  66;  conference 
with  Penn,  105;  treaty  with 
Penn,  116;  and  rum,  172, 
282;  sell  land  to  Penn,  301 

Ives,  Jeremy,  his  contest  with 
Penn,  45 

Ives,  Rev.  Mr.,  preaches 
against  the  Quakers,  44 

JAMES,  DUKE  OF  YORK,  9,  42, 
60,  76,  200.  See  James  II. 

James  II.,  163;  settles  the  dis- 
pute between  Lord  Balti- 
more and  Penn,  170;  issues 
declaration  of  indulgence, 
191;  leaves  England,  198; 
letter  to  Penn,  220;  lands  in 
Ireland,  222;  defeated,  294 

Janney,  Samuel  M.,  206,  210, 
218,  264,  277,  342 

Jasper,  Margaret,  3 

Jeffreys,  175,  294 

Jennings,  Governor,  282 

Jennings,  Solomon,  132 

KEITH,  GEORGE,  230 
Kensington  Elm,  The,  120 
Key,  John,  124 
Kiffin,  William,  209 

LELAND,  CHARLES  G.,  286 
Lloyd,  David,  319,  335 
Lloyd,  Thomas,  173,  216,217, 
229,  251,  254,  319 


INDEX. 


363 


Locke,  John,  166,  227 
Loe,  Thomas,  13,  22 
Logan,  James,  291,  318,  319, 

322,  326,  350 
Love.  John,  55 
Lowrie,  Gawen,  63 
Lucas,  Nicholas,  63 

MACAULAY,  200;  charges 
against  Penn,  201 

Markham,  Colonel,  76,  99, 
rO3;  goes  to  England,  153; 
Deputy  Governor,  229;  251, 
254,  257,  261,  271,  272;  his 
son-in-law  accused  of  pira- 
cy, 276;  278 

Marshall,  Edward,  132,  317 

Mason,  Charles,  171 

Masters,  Sybylla,  343 

Masters,  Thomas,  322 

Mather,  Cotton,  138 

Mattson,  Margaret,  tried  for 
withcraft,  141 

Mead,  Captain  William,  36,  60 

Menzikoff,  Prince,  264 

Metamequan,  128 

Milton,  John,  52 

Mintye  church,  I 

Molleson,  Gilbert,  263 

Monk,  35 

Monmouth,  175,  207,  294 

Moore,  Nicholas,  174 

NEAD,  BENJAMIN  M.,  286 

Nichols,  Ann,  279 

Norris,  Isaac,  319,  322,  337 

ORMOND,  DUKE  OF,  20 

PARADISE  LOST,  52 
Paradise  Regained, -52 
Pastorius,  Francis  Daniel,  2 19, 

289 

Pastorius,  Franz,  75 
Peachey,  Dr.,  195 
Pearson,  103 
Pemberton,  Phineas,  322 


Penn,  Giles,  2 

Penn,  Gulielma  (wife  of  Wil- 
liam Penn),  her  death,  245; 
her  character,  246,  345 

Penn,  Gulielma  (granddaugh- 
ter of  William  Penn),  351 

Penn,  Hannah,  291,  309;  her 
care  of  her  husband, 344;  352 

Penn,  John,  his  birth,  277;  his 
burial-place.  345;  proprietor 
of  Pennsylvania,  352 

Penn,  Letitia,  273;  claims  a 
slave,  292;  309;  her  mar- 
riage, 326;  her  burial-place, 
346,  35i 

Penn,  Richard,  352,  353 

Penn,  Springett  (son  of  Wil- 
liam Penn),  260,  346 

Penn,  Springett  (grandson  of 
William  Penn),  351 

Penn,  Thomas,  352,  353 

Penn  village,  I 

Penn,  Admiral  William,  2:  his 
career,  3;  demands  compen- 
sation of  the  Protector,  6; 
offers  his  fleet  to  Charles 
Stuart,  6;  imprisoned,  7; 
his  humble  petition  to  Crom- 
well, 7;  restored  to  liberty, 
7;  resumes  treasonable  cor- 
respondence, 7;  declares  for 
Charles,  9;  is  knighted,  9; 
his  offices,  9;  refuses  his  son 
permission  to  join. the  army, 
21 ;  his  death,  42;  relations 
with  James,  200 

Penn,  William  (son  of  Admiral 
Penn),  birth,  i;  ancestors,  i; 
education,  10;  religious  sur- 
roundings, 1 1 ;  hears  Thomas 
Loe,  14;  suspended,  14;  re- 
turn home,  15;  sent  to  Paris, 
16;  meets  Algernon  Sidney. 
17;  writes  poetry,  17;  en- 
tered at  Lincoln's  Inn,  17; 
goes  to  sea,  18;  encounters 
the  plague,  18;  goes  to  Ire- 


364 


INDEX. 


Penn,  William  (Continued}. 
land,  19;  military  ardor,  20; 
refused  permission  to  join 
the  army,  21;  portrait  in 
uniform,  21;  becomes  a 
Quaker,  22;  arrested  and 
imprisoned,  22;  his  hat,  23; 
eliminated,  24;  returns,  25; 
writes  a  book.  27;  publishes 
"  The  Guide  Mistaken."  28; 
discussion  with  Vincent,  29; 
publishes  "  The  Sandy 
Foundation  Shaken, "and  is 
arrested,  30;  "  No  Cross,  no 
Crown,"  31;  "  Innocency 
with  her  Open  Face,"  34; 
his  trial,  36;  at  his  father's 
death-bed,  41;  writes  a  re- 
port of  his  trial,  44;  contest 
with  Ives,  45;  pamphlet 
against  Popery,  45;  in  the 
Tower,  46;  more  pam- 
phlets, 47;  goes  to  Holland, 
49;  marriage,  50;  "The 
Spirit  of  Alexander  the  Cop- 
persmith," 57;  discussion 
with  Baxter,  58;  as  arbi- 
trator, 62;  prepares  a  consti- 
tution, 63;  sails  for  Holland, 
66;  returns  to  England,  69; 
accepts  land  for  his  claim 
against  the  Government,  71; 
draws  up  a  constitution  for 
Pennsylvania,  74;  his  moth- 
er's death,  77;  letter  to  his 
wife,  83;  the  small-pox  at 
sea,  86;  conference  with  the 
Indians,  105;  second  treaty 
with  the  Indians,  128;  dis- 
agreement with  Lord  Balti- 
more, 153;  goes  to  England 
and  sees  the  King,  159;  his 
opinion  of  the  King,  162; 
interview  with  James  II., 
163;  suspected  to  be  a 
Papist,  168  ;  "  Fiction 
Found  Out,"  168;  denounces 


Penn,  William  (Continued}. 
Jeffreys,  175;  pleads  for 
Cornish,  177;  and  Elizabeth 
Gaunt,  177;  goes  to  Holland 
as  informal  envoy  of  James, 
180;  obtains  pardon  for  dis- 
senters, 182;  dispute  about 
"quit-rents,"  185;  appoints 
five  commissioners,  189; 
writes  "  Good  Advice  to  the 
Church  of  England,"  193; 
arbitrates  between  the  King 
and  the  Fellows  of  Magdalen 
College,  195;  relations  with 
James,  200;  Macaulay's 
charges,  201;  advice  to  Kif- 
fin,  209;  summoned  before 
the  House  of  Lords,  213;  re- 
forms the  executive  depart- 
ment of  Pennsylvania,  216; 
his  quit-rents,  217;  arrested 
on  charge  of  treasonable 
correspondence,  220;  at  the 
death-bed  of  George  Fox, 
224;  deprived  of  his  govern- 
ment, 232;  writes  "Just 
Measures,"  235;  and  other 
works,  236;  maxims,  237; 
obtains  a  public  hearing  be- 
fore the  king,  244;  his  wife's 
death,  246;  reinstated  as 
governor,  253;  writes  an 
"Account  of  the  Quakers," 
and  other  works,  255;  his 
position  toward  the  Penn- 
sylvanians,  255;  licensed  to 
preach,  260;  marries  Miss 
Hannah  Callowhill,  260; 
visits  Peter  the  Great,  262; 
writes  a  pamphlet  on  blas- 
phemy, 265;  goes  to  Ire- 
land, 266;  loses  his  horses, 
267;  draft  protested,  272; 
returns  to  America,  273; 
lands  at  Chester,  275;  life 
at  Pennsbury,  277;  yacht, 
280;  dress,  280;  charity, 


INDEX. 


Penn,  William  (Continued). 
281;  opinion  of  tobacco, 
282;  anecdote  of,  284;  on 
slavery,  288;  effort  to  im- 
prove the  negroes'  condi- 
tion, 290;  frees  slaves  in  his 
will,  291;  buys  land  of  Indi- 
ans, 301;  return  to  England, 
308;  requests  of  the  Assem- 
bly, 310;  sells  land,  312;  pre- 
sents act  of  incorporation 
to  Philadelphia,  315;  leaves 
Philadelphia  for  the  last 
time,  318;  his  steward's  dis- 
honesty, 329;  letter  to  the 
colonists,  335;  last  literary 
work,  340;  negotiations  for 
the  sale  of  his  province, 
341;  illness,  342;  death,  345; 
burial-place,  345;  will,  351; 
the  gratitude  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, 353;  character,  356; 
monument,  358 

Penn,  William  (grandson  of 
Admiral  Penn),  261,  274; 
goes  to  Pennsylvania,  322; 
returns  to  England,  326; 
327,  344 

Penn,  William  (great-grand- 
son of  Admiral  Penn),  351 

Penne,  George,  208 

Pennington,  Isaac,  51,  346 

Pennsbury,  277 

Pennsylvania,  named,  73; 
condition  of,  89;  Penn's  de- 
scription of,  148;  growth  of, 
295 

Pennsylvania,  Assembly  of, 
8? 

Pennsylvania  Hospital,  125, 
281 

Pennsylvania  Legislature,  acts 
of,  143;  action  in  regard  to 
Penn  estates,  352 

Pepys,  15 

Perrot,  John,  55;  writes  "The 
Spirit  of  the  Hat,"  57 


Peter  the  Great,  262 
Philadelphia,  90;  yellow  fever 
in,  274;  act  of  incorporation, 

315 

Phillips,  Mr.,  343 

Pickering,  Charles,  137 

Piracy,  2,  276 

Plague,  The,  18 

Plympton,  Rev.  John,  268 

Popple,  167 

Preston,  Lord,  223 

Preston,  Mrs.,  103 

Protector,  The,  5;  compen- 
sates Admiral  Penn,  6;  im- 
prisons him,  7;  liberates 
him,  7;  his  death,  8;  295 

Proud,  Sir  John,  50 

Provincial  Council,  125;  first 
trial  for  witchcraft,  138;  on 
slavery,  290 

QUAKERS,  their  doctrines,  26; 
settle  in  America,  63;  de- 
clare slavery  unlawful,  67; 
meeting-houses,  153;  in 
prison,  165;  waive  the  cere- 
mony of  the  hat,  193;  opin- 
ions of  Penn,  206;  action  in 
regard  to  slavery,  290 

Quarry,  Colonel,  271,  272 

RALPH,  JOSEPH,  325 
Randall,  Edward,  2731 
Reman,  Robert,  257 
Rickmansworth,  54 
Rittenhouse,  William,  219 
Robinson,  Sir  John,  his  grati- 
tude, 46 

Rupert,  Prince,  35,  66 
Russell,  53 

SHIPPEN,  EDWARD,  277,  316, 
321,  322 

Sidney,  Algernon,  17;  a  can- 
didate for  Parliament,  69; 
draws  up  a  constitution  for 
Pennsylvania, 74;  beheaded, 
159,  175,  294 


366 


INDEX. 


Sidney,  Algernon  (Continued). 

Sidney,  Henry,  71 

Slavery,  protest  against,  144, 
218;  in  Pennsylvania,  288; 
advice  of  Yearly  Meeting, 
289;  action  of  Council  and 
Assembly,  290;  action  of 
Assembly,  340;  action  of 
Parliament,  341 

Smith,  Aaron,  167 

Sotcher,  280 

Southbe,  William,  340 

Spencer,  Lord  Robert,  17 

Springett,  Gulielma,  50,  345, 
346 

Springett,   Lady,  12,  50 

Springett,   Sir  William,  50 

Stewart,  Sir  Robert,  183 

Story,  Enoch,  325 

Story,  Thomas,  263,  271,  274, 
316 

Sutciiff,  283 

TALBOT,  COLONEL,  157. 
Tamanen,  128,  136 
Taunton,  207 
Test  Act,  The,59;  repeal  of,i78 


Tillotson,  Dr.,  168,  169 
Townsend,   Richard,   and  the 

deer,  146 
Treaties,  115,  128 

VENABLES,  GENERAL,  7 
Vincent,  Rev.  Thomas,  28 
Voltaire,  31 

WELLS,  FRANCIS,  286 
West,  Benjamin,  103 
West  Jersey,  63,  65 
White,  John,  144 
White,  Sir  Richard,  208 
Whitehead,  George,  29 
Wilcox,  Alderman,  325 
William  and  Mary,  215 
William  of  Orange,  lands  in 

England,  198;  220,  295 
Witchcraft,  138 
Women's  rights,  236 
Wood,     Sheriff    Joseph,    his 

joke,  286 

Worminghurst,  66 
Worth,  Chief  Justice,  72 

YEATES,  JAMES,  132 
Yellow  fever,  274. 


CsJ* 


Iiiiil 

A    001  386177    8 


